Ambition Education Trust ~ Cleaning Tender

The Ambition Education trust (AET) was formed on 1st September 2024, growing from a friendly merger of two previous successful trusts, Alban Academies Trust and ATLAS MAT. The new vision and values of AET strongly mirror those from the two, previous trusts.

The trust is composed of 10 schools situated in Hertfordshire, across St Albans, Welwyn Garden City and Hemel Hempstead. There are three primaries, one infants, one junior and five secondary schools with over 800 staff delivering high-quality education to over 7500 young people from the ages 3 to 18. The overall aim of the Trust is to achieve Educational Excellence for All.

The successful Supplier will be required to provide cleaning services for Ambitions Education Trust in the following schools:

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Ridgeway Academy (Secondary)

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Verulam School (Secondary)

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St Albans Girls’ School (STAGS) (Secondary)

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The Adeyfield Academy (Secondary)

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Garden Fields School (Primary)

This procurement is being conducted under a competitive flexible procedure in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023. Following the initial selection stage, the Contracting Authority intends to invite up to five suppliers to participate in the tender stage. Selection will be based on the criteria set out in the PSQ/tender documents and will be applied in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner. Suppliers must meet the minimum conditions of participation in order to progress to the tender stage.

Contract value is likely to be around £700,000 per annum

Part 2 ~ Opportunity Overview

The school project stakeholder’s aims for this process are as follows:

• Consistency of cleanliness across the schools
• Quality of local and off-site supervision (auditing/ training/ communication/ recruitment)
• Improving communication between the service provider and school stakeholders and between the service provider and the trust
• Upgrade of machinery and technology and review of chemicals used
• Disciplined reporting and adherence to the meeting cycle to assure that reactive and proactive works are prioritised and completed
• Development true sense of partnership with the successful service provider

The basis and rationale that the Client requires the successful Supplier to operate to at all times is being able to provide a school cleaning service that is fit for purpose and that the Supplier is proactive in the management of the contract, thus ensuring that all specifications are achieved and that the frequency of cleans is as detailed within the tender specification.

The contract being tendered is for three years in duration from April 2026 until end March 2029 with the option to extend upon agreement with the Client, for a further two-year period (awarded in singular years). The contract will be fixed price in nature, with the Supplier invoicing the Client for one-twelfth of the annual cost on a monthly basis, however the successful supplier will be expected to return any hours not worked to the trust.

It should be noted that the successful Supplier will be expected to bring to the contract: innovation; technology; new equipment; and cleaning methods, with BICSc standards being achieved, as a minimum, thus ensuring that the highest levels of cleanliness are maintained in all areas at all times and also ensuring that the productivity of the cleaning operatives is enhanced moving forward into the new contract term.

The incumbent supplier in the four secondary schools is KGB - as a result of two historical tender processes. Ridgeway and Verulam are currently working to an input specification whereas STAGS and the Adeyfield Academy are working to an output specification. The main ITT will set out the specification type that is preferable to the client.

Garden Fields Primary School has Origin Cleaning Ltd as its incumbent supplier.

There are likely to be several members of staff at each school enrolled in LGPS

Please see PSQ document for reference.