Change in Delivery Model for Council Owned Leisure Centres - Agency Model

CPV: Sports facilities operation services

Procedure method

Negotiated without publication of a contract notice

Legal basis

CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)

Procurement category

Services

Notice status

Awarded

Procurement threshold

Unspecified in notice

Regulatory regime

Standard

Commercial structure

Stand-alone contract (no framework)

Competition type

Competitive procedure

GPA / WTO covered

Unspecified in notice

Recurring procurement

Unspecified in notice

First published

27 Feb 2026, 12:28 GMT

Last source update

27 Feb 2026, 12:28 GMT

FTS notice number

2026/S 000-017868

Classification (CPV)

Sports facilities operation services

Delivery area

East of England (UKH37)

Official registry OCID

ocds-h6vhtk-065e36 Find a Tender

Why no open competition

Additional deliveries by the original supplier ordered under the strict conditions stated in the directive

Published justification

The existing Contracts are based on Sport England templates. The Agency Model was therefore not the structure that was identified in the original tenders, nor is it described in the Contracts. Rather, SLM operates the facilities as "principal" in the Leisure Contract, and the DBOM Contractor does the same under the 2009 DBOM Contract.

It is proposed that for efficiency, SLM would combine the Contracts together into one contract, under which SLM would be the counterparty responsible for all services (the Consolidated Leisure Contract). It follows that if the Agency Model were to be implemented, several changes would need to be made to the

Contracts, being:

1. changes to accommodate the agency structure;
2. change of counterparties under the 2009 DBOM Contract to remove the DBOM Contractor and place all obligations on SLM; and;
3. changes to accommodate combining the Contracts together generally.

Regulation 72 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR) governs modifications to public contracts during their term. Regulation 72 sets out six "safe harbours" in which a public contract can be modified during its term without the need to re-advertise the contract.

The identified safe harbour for these changes is regulation 72(1)(e). Regulation 72(1)(e) can be relied on where the modification, irrespective of value, is not "substantial" as defined in Regulation 72(8). The Council establishes and document that none of the following sub-grounds are made out by the proposed changes to implement the Agency Model, in particular with reference to its knowledge of the market for these services and the responses from other bidders in the original procurement:

1. the modification renders the contract materially different in character from the one initially concluded;
2. the modification introduces conditions which, had they been part of the initial procurement procedure, would have:

(a) allowed for the admission of other candidates; or

(b) allowed for the acceptance of another tender; or

(c) attracted additional participants in the procurement procedure,

3. the modification changes the economic balance of the contract in favour of the contractor in a manner which was not provided for in the procurement procedure;
4. the modification considerably extends the scope of the contract; and
5. a new contractor replaces the original contractor in cases other than those provided for in Regulation 72(1)(d) - which covers corporate restructures.

• Sports and Leisure Management LimitedAwarded supplierGB-COH: 02204085 Hinckley, UK

No document links were published on the notice.