Christmas Illuminations - Portsmouth

Portsmouth City Council, ("the Council") is inviting tenders from suitably experienced and qualified Suppliers for the provision, service, maintenance, installation and storage of Christmas Illuminations and associated items to enhance the festive season in a number of key retail centres in Portsmouth.

The successful supplier will be required to work in partnership with the Council on an open book basis to review the illuminations offer on a yearly basis, to ensure that funds are used to effectively maintain, improve, replace, and add to the inventory.

The existing inventory and additions agreed over the contract period will remain the property of the Council, unless the Council opts at its discretion to switch to a partial or full hire scheme with the supplier over the term of the contract.

The current contract expires on 30th August 2024. The Council is targeting to award the contract by Friday 9th August 2024 with a subsequent commencement date of Friday 30th August 2024.

The Council has an available revenue budget of £61,000 (excluding VAT) for the 1st year of the contract with an additional £14,000 (excluding VAT) of CIL funding which can be used for new equipment purchases.

The revenue budget per annum for future years of the contract is £63,000 and there is currently no provision for inflationary increases. Beyond any potential impacts of inflation the budget could also be impacted by any decisions to increase or reduce the size and scope of Christmas illuminations within the city - e.g. addition or removal of sites.

No guarantee of further CIL capital funding can be provided but based upon current and historical allocations the Council has included for an average non-binding value per annum value of £15,000 from year 2. Capital funding can be significantly variable with higher and lower amounts allocated each year.

Payments will be invoiced by the Supplier at three milestone points during the year: post takedown and pre installation, and post installation.

The initial Contract period will be for four years and 7 months with possibility of extending the term by five years in increments to be agreed of no less than one [1] year and no more than five. The maximum total term of nine years and seven months is subject to the agreement and performance of both parties.

In the event that all extension options are taken up and no inflationary increases or significant scheme additions are applied the value of the contract based upon the revenue budget solely would be approximately £628,000. Taking into account current CIL funding and on average estimates the value of the contract could then increase to £777,000.

All value estimates referred to are to be viewed as non-binding and do not commit the council to allocating specific budget levels or cap the maximum value of funding which can be allocated to the contract.

The Council will run the procurement process in accordance with the 'Open Procedure' as set out within the Public Contracts Regulations (2015).

The procurement programme is set out below:

• Procurement documents available on In-tend - Thursday 20th June 2024
• Bidders Briefing - Friday 28th June 2024 at 14:30
• Deadline for requests for clarification - Wednesday 3rd July at 23:59
• Tender return deadline - Monday 15th July at 12:00
• Site Visits - Monday 22nd & Tuesday 23rd July 2024
• Award decision notified to bidders - Friday 26th July 2024
• Standstill period starts - Monday 29th July 2024
• Standstill period ends - Thursday 8th August 2024 23:59
• Contract award - Friday 9th August 2024
• Mobilisation - Friday 9th August 2024
• Start of contract - Friday 30th August 2024

The Council will administrate the procurement process using its e-sourcing system In-tend. The In-tend system can be accessed free of charge via the following web link:

intendhost.co.uk/portsmouthcc/aspx/home ↗