Voluntary ex ante transparency notice
Directive 2014/24/EU
Section I: Contracting
entity
I.1) Name and addresses
Wakefield Council (the ‘Council’)
Wakefield One, Burton Street
Wakefield
WF1 2EB
UK
Contact person: Simon Field, Service Manager — Corporate Procurement, Financial Services
E-mail: sfield@wakefield.gov.uk
NUTS: UKE45
Internet address(es)
Main address: www.wakefield.gov.uk
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Regional or local authority
I.5) Main activity
General public services
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
Wakefield Street Lighting
II.1.2) Main CPV code
50232100
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
The Council and Amey Highways Lighting (Wakefield) Ltd (the ‘Contractor’) entered into a Project Agreement on 23 December 2003 for the provision and maintenance of public street lighting within Wakefield (the ‘Project Agreement’). The project agreement has a term of 25 years, ending February 2029, and was entered into pursuant to the national Private Finance Initiative (‘PFI’).
The parties are entering into a deed of amendment to the Project Agreement (the ‘DoA’). The DoA will change the Project Agreement so that it requires certain alterations to the street lighting estate, comprising replacement of the current luminaires with LED luminaires (‘LEDs’) and the implementation of a central management system (‘CMS’) (together the ‘LED Changes’). The CMS controls the times at which street lights turn on and off and controls the amount of light by varying the energy consumed. Functional and fault information is sent from the street lights to the CMS.
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.1.7) Total value of the procurement
Value excluding VAT:
21 000 000.00
GBP
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
50232000
45233293
45316100
71700000
71630000
34928510
34928500
45316110
45317000
72200000
31712341
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKE45
Main site or place of performance:
Wakefield.
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
The LED Changes have been in contemplation for some time. A previous notice was published on 12 August 2016 (2016/S 155-281738). The changes described in that notice were not made at that time and the LED Changes described in this notice are the same changes. This second notice is published for completeness and to maximise transparency.
Energy cost risk sits with the Council under the Project Agreement. Since it was entered into on 23 December 2003 there have been a number of substantial changes to the energy market in the UK and to the low carbon and green policies being pursued at local, national and international level. These changes are referred to in this notice as the ‘Relevant Circumstances’.
The Relevant Circumstances include: energy prices (including tariffs) increasing substantially faster than the indexation rate used for other payments in the Project Agreement (RPIX); in common with many other local authorities the Council is pursuing a reduction in its carbon footprint with an aim of being carbon neutral by 2030 which includes a reduction in the energy consumption of its street lighting estate; technological advances mean that LEDs and other low energy lanterns now offer substantial, tangible and demonstrable advantages (in terms of availability, reliability and efficiency) as does the technical feasibility of controlling LEDs through a CMS (and neither LEDs nor a CMS became available until many years after the Project Agreement was entered into); and there is a continuing national drive for making operational savings under PFI contracts.
The LED Changes will help the Council to address the Relevant Circumstances. The LED Changes are forecast to deliver a 65 % reduction in energy consumption. The reduction in consumption will also reduce energy costs, while further cost savings will result from: a ‘night scouting’ operation no longer being required to identify lanterns that have a fault due to the presence of the CMS; and the four-yearly maintenance cycle to replace the bulb in each lantern no longer being required due to the increased life expectancy delivered by the LEDs.
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
No
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure
Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition
Justification for selected award procedure:
The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the Directive
Explanation:
The LED Changes are permitted by PCR Regulation 72(1)(b) and (c):
REGULATION 72(1)(b): the LEDs and CMS have become necessary due to the Relevant Circumstances (as explained in II.2.4) and were not included in the initial procurement. A change in contractor cannot be made for economic and technical reasons. The contractor is responsible for maintaining lighting columns and lanterns until February 2029 and installed the columns. The LEDs and CMS will form an integral part of the system operated and maintained by the Contractor and it is not economically or technically feasible for another contractor to install or maintain LEDs on columns maintained by the contractor. Economic and technical difficulties would include (for LEDs) a lack of clarity around responsibility for workmanship and adoption across contractors (including where one contractor installed electrical connections in columns installed by another contractor, with the latter responsible for maintenance of the whole). For CMS, technical difficulties would arise if the CMS owned and installed by one contractor was responsible for determining workload and reliability for another contractor carrying out maintenance.
Even where those difficulties could be overcome (which, as explained above, the Council considers not to be possible), this would inevitably result in significant inconvenience and substantial duplication of costs. In particular, the relevant contractors would require additional payment to offset interface risk and would need to divert time/resources to managing that new interface rather than delivering an integrated service to the Council and the people and communities of Wakefield. Changes would be needed to the Project Agreement financial model which was developed by the contractor on the basis of known levels of risk that would be under its control. In addition, the need to monitor the activity of two contractors and the interface would impose cost and resource demands on the Council, which the Council is not able to meet. Furthermore, the introduction of a new contractor would delay and obstruct the making and implementation of responsive service decisions as both contractors and the Council (and the existing funders) would need to reach consensus each time. The introduction of a second contractor for the LEDs and CMS would require further changes to the terms of the Project Agreement (to the Contractor's obligations as well as to the finances), which would need to be agreed with the Contractor, adding further significant inconvenience and cost. The increase in the price of the Project Agreement does not exceed 50 % of the original value.
Regulation 72(1)(c): the need for the modification has been brought about by the Relevant Circumstances, which the Council (acting as a diligent contracting authority) could not have foreseen when entering into the Project Agreement. There is no alteration to the overall nature of the Project Agreement: it remains an agreement for the provision and operation of street lighting in Wakefield with a means of controlling that lighting (turning on and off) and maintenance in line with statutory requirements and codes of practice. The increase in price does not exceed 50 %.
IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement:
Yes
IV.2) Administrative information
IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
Notice number in the OJ S:
2016/S 155-281738
Section V: Award of contract/concession
V.2 Award of contract/concession
V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract/concession
06/08/2020
V.2.2) Information about tenders
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators:
No
V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Amey Highways Lighting (Wakefield) Ltd
Swanley
UK
NUTS: UKJ4
The contractor is an SME:
No
V.2.4) Information on value of the concession and main financing terms (excluding VAT)
Total value of the concession/lot:
21 000 000.00
GBP
V.2.5) Information about subcontracting
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.3) Additional information
This notice is also a modification notice under Regulation 72(3) of the Public Contracts Regulation 2015 (‘PCR’).
The values stated in II.1.7) and in V.2.4) are the estimated cost of the LED Changes under the DoA. As explained elsewhere in this notice in the context of PCR Regulation 72(1)(b) and (c) the increase in the price of the Project Agreement resulting from the LED Changes does not exceed 50 % of the original value. The increase is estimated at GBP 21 m which is 19.17 % of the indexed price (average RPIX) over the full term of the Project Agreement.
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
High Court, Technology and Construction Court
7 Rolls Building, Fetter Lane
London
EC4A 1NL
UK
VI.4.3) Review procedure
Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures:
In accordance with Part 3 (Remedies) of The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (S.I. 2015 No 102).
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
07/08/2020