Oldham Green New Deal Independent Assurance Provider

The Oldham Green New Deal (OGND) Strategy was the first local authority Green New Deal strategy to be adopted in the UK and sets out Oldham's unique approach to achieving our stretching net zero targets, which are even more ambitious than the 2038 carbon neutrality target set for Greater Manchester as a whole. Oldham is very much part of the Greater Manchester family though, and our ambition sits within the wider ambition and opportunity of the city region and its ten local authority areas - and is supported by the GM Combined Authority low carbon and environmental teams.

The Council believes that, working together with the private and third sectors and our local residents and businesses, we can achieve these challenging carbon neutrality targets while building the local green economy and creating good jobs and training opportunities. We recognise though that the Council alone cannot provide the scale of investment and capacity required to transform the energy infrastructure of the borough to achieve the transition to net zero, stabilise energy costs for residents and businesses and deliver on the net zero carbon targets outlined in the Green New Deal Strategy.

We are therefore seeking to establish a strategic Delivery Partnership for the borough, working with a forward-looking investor developer and other organisations to bring about the transformation and decarbonisation of Oldham's energy infrastructure, creating win-win outcomes for commercial partners, local residents and businesses. Associated with the requirement for a strategic Delivery Partnership is the requirement for an Independent Assurance Provider which is the subject of this market engagement exercise.

We are seeking market feedback which will help us to shape our requirements for the Independent Assurance Provider, and its integration or linkages with the Delivery Partner in sufficient depth to take us to the early stages of procurement. The Council will need to appoint an Independent Assurance Provider (IAP) organisation as a key element of the partnership. The IAP's role will be first to support the Council in designing the contractual structure of the partnership and procuring the partners, and then to provide ongoing governance, assurance and programme management for the partnership as it delivers.

For the avoidance of any doubt, this (Chest project reference DN631261) is a brand-new market engagement exercise, fully independent of and separate to any previous soft market testing exercise previously conducted by the Council in 2021 and which is now fully closed: (www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/025236-2021 ↗). As a procurement process, it is also fully independent of and separate to the market engagement relating to the Oldham Green New Deal Delivery Partnership (Oldham Council procurement reference DN631138) which is running concurrently.

The market engagement documents contain a significant amount of information to convey the background and future opportunity, including a draft specification for the Independent Assurance Provider. They also contain a number of market engagement questions to which we would be very pleased and appreciative to receive responses to from any organisation interested in this potential opportunity, including any organisations which responded to our first round of market engagement 2021. Documentation and plans have progressed substantially since 2021. For the avoidance of any doubt this market engagement exercise will not serve as any kind of shortlisting.

The deadline for responses to the market engagement questions is 12.00 noon Tuesday 18th October 2022.

It is not possible at this stage to provide an indicative contract value for this opportunity. Please refer to the market engagement documents to understand the scale and duration of the opportunity for your own commercial estimations.

The Council cannot confirm future procurement dates at this stage but would hope to commence the procurement of the Independent Assurance Provider (IAP) within quarter one of its 2023/24 financial year (e.g., April-June 2023). The procurement of the Delivery Partner would not commence until the IAP is appointed. Additional information: All communication (queries or clarifications) including your response is to go through the Council's e-tendering portal www.the-chest.org.uk ↗ and not addressed directly to individual Oldham Council employees or any Council agent by email or otherwise.

The project reference is DN631261.

The deadline for responses to the market engagement questions is 12.00 noon Tuesday 18th October 2022.

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