Rushmoor Borough Council - Leisure Centre Operator

Rushmoor Borough Council - the 'Council' - is seeking to engage with suitably experienced leisure facility operators in respect of a forthcoming contracting opportunity for the operation of a planned new leisure centre in Farnborough. The contracting opportunity will also encompass operation of the Council's existing leisure centre and lido facilities located in Aldershot.

To ensure effective engagement with operators, and in the interests of transparency and fair & equal treatment set out within the Procurement Act 23, the Council has instigated this Preliminary Market Engagement process via issue of a Preliminary Market Engagement Notice on the Central Government Find a Tender Service / Central Digital Platform.

As detailed within a recent report taken to the Council's Cabinet on 11th February 2025 the Council has a number of key decisions to make in the coming months in respect of the final design, business case, programme and operating model for the new leisure centre.

The Council's Cabinet has approved the recommendation to commence a procurement process to secure an operator in advance of proceeding to finalisation of design and construction of the new facility.

As outlined within the report, it is vital that the Council has a clear binding position on the commercial arrangements with the operator market by September 2025 via this procurement process in order to obtain Cabinet approval to proceed to detailed design.

The Council then envisages undertaking a further round of tendering in order to optimise proposals and identify a most advantageous preferred bidder for the leisure operator contract in parallel with undertaking the detailed design process. The Council is then targeting to seek Cabinet approval in February to proceed to award of contract to the preferred bidder and enter into the design finalisation & construction phase of the new centre development project in that order.

Prior to undertaking the formal procurement process, which is currently targeted for commencement in April / May 2025, the Council is seeking to undertake preliminary market engagement discussions with suitably experienced operators to review in summary:

• Design & Facilities Mix
• Operations, Costs & Demand
• Commercial Arrangements & Financing
• Risk, Contract Form & Contract Duration
• Procurement Process & Programme

The Council will run an on-line briefing via TEAMS on Tuesday 25th March 2025 between 15:00 and 16:00 where further information will be shared in relation to the design of the new centre, new centre opportunity analysis, current business case, operator specification, contractual terms, etc. Following the briefing the Council will then undertake 1-1 discussions with suitably experienced operators between Tuesday 1st April - Thursday 3rd April 2025.

The Council has 6 slots available in total which will be allocated on a first come first served basis to operators who can certify that they can evidence stated levels of minimum experience which include, but are not limited to:

• Mobilisation of operations at a new facility which is similar in size and scope to the Council's envisaged new centre
• Providing a significant income stream to the client
• Providing a balanced programme of activities to maximise participation, engagement, physical activity and reduce health inequalities
• Partnership working and open book accounting
• Managing a facility which includes a swimming pool of no less than 25m length
• Operating a leisure facility on a full repair & lease basis
• Operating a leisure facility on a concession model where the operator takes risk for demand

Operators who are interested in attending the briefing session and a subsequent 1-1 meeting must complete and return Expression of Interest, Conflict of Interest Statement and Non-Disclosure Agreement by no later than 12:00 Monday 24th March 2025 via the Council's Pro-Contract e-sourcing system.

Operators are required to state which meeting slots they are able to attend and state order of preference for the dates and times available within their completed Expression of Interest form. Operators will be allocated their preferred slots wherever possible but priority will be given on a first come first served basis. Should more than 6 compliant applications be received by the deadline stated above the 6 slots will be allocated to operators in order of receipt from earliest first.

The Council will conduct a Briefing session on Tuesday 25th March between 15:00 - 16:00 remotely via TEAMS. Operators who have submitted compliant applications by the deadline stated will be invited to the briefing and issued with a Teams link to all of their named attendees / delegates at least 1 hour prior to the briefing start time. Where more than 6 operators have applied priority will be given based upon application receipt.

Only one briefing will be held, however the briefing will be recorded via Teams and will be made available to Operators after the event.

All 1-1 meetings will be held remotely via Teams. The Council has made the following 1-1 meeting slots available. Operators are to state which they can attend and state their order of preference. Meeting slots will be allocated on a first come first served basis and will be confirmed to Operators at least 2 working days before the earliest meeting slot.

Following confirmation by both parties the Council will issue a Teams link to the Operator's attendees / delegates at least 1 hour before the 1-1 meeting.

• Tuesday 1 April, 3.15pm - 4.30pm
• Wednesday 2 April, 9.30am - 10.45am
• Wednesday 2 April, 11.00am - 12.15pm
• Wednesday 2 April, 1.00pm - 2.15pm
• Thursday 3 April, 9.30am - 10.45am
• Thursday 3 April, 11.15am - 12.30pm

Operators will only be invited to attend the briefing and subsequent 1-1 meetings where no conflicts are declared which cannot be mitigated, where the Non-Disclosure Agreement has been appropriately signed without any material amendments and where the Expression of Interest form has been fully completed including for self-certification of meeting all stated minimum experience requirements.

Where operators have any questions in respect of the participation requirements, process or any other matters these must be addressed to the Council via it's e-sourcing system Pro-Contract using the correspondence function.

Operators have the option of providing a brief presentation at the 1-1 meeting and supporting summary report, although this is not a mandatory requirement and operators who do not wish to provide information in these formats will not be disadvantaged in respect of the Preliminary Market Engagement and subsequent formal procurement processes.

Similarly, operators should note that there is no obligation to take part in this preliminary market engagement exercise and that if they do not take part, it will not preclude them from the subsequent related procurement process. Engaging operators will not receive preferential treatment in any procurement tender process, and this is in no way an indication of the selection of any organisation or a guarantee of future work.

Following completion of the Preliminary Market Engagement process the Council will compile a summary report in accordance with Procurement Act 23 requirements which, without breaching commercial confidentiality for all parties, outlines participants, meeting dates, summary agendas and high-level findings.

The Council will also compile operator specific summary reports which include for detailed information and which will be kept strictly confidential. This will include for all detailed discussions in respect of commercial arrangements, costs, demand projections, etc. The Council will issue the high-level summary report to all operators who take part in this process and share the operator specific detailed reports with the relevant individual operators during April 2025. Operators will be given the opportunity to review the content of the reports and provide any comments / required amendments before they are finalised.

To ensure compliance with fair & equal treatment principles set out within the Procurement Act 23, and not creating advantage or disadvantage that cannot be effectively mitigated, the high-level summary report is likely to be included within the procurement documents issued as part of the subsequent formal procurement process. The operator specific detailed reports will not be shared.

As some of the documentation and information that will be disclosed is not ready to be issued in the public domain the Council requires that intertest operators complete and return the Non-Disclosure Agreement by the deadline stated. Any questions regarding this document should be addressed to the Council via Pro-Contract.

The Procurement Act 2023 requires the Council to identify and keep under review actual and potential conflicts of interest. The Council must also mitigate conflicts of interest and address circumstances which the Council considers are likely to cause a reasonable person to wrongly believe there to be a conflict or potential conflict of interest.

A conflict of interest arises when an individual's personal interests, relationships, or activities have the potential to interfere with their impartiality or the integrity of the procurement process. This may include financial, personal, familial, or business interests that could improperly influence, or be perceived to influence, their decisions or actions.

To meet current and future conflict of interest obligations, the Council requires that all contractors participating in the SMT process complete and return Conflicts of Interest Declaration as a condition of participating in the Microsoft Teams briefing event and 1-1 meetings.