The provision of production infrastructure for the Black Music and Carnival Festival

The justification is based on section 41 and

paragraph 6 of Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act

2023; a direct award of a public contract is

permissible where:

(a) due to an absence of competition for technical

reasons, only a particular supplier can provide the

required goods, services, or works, and

(b) there are no reasonable alternatives to those

goods, services, or works.

In accordance with paragraph 6 of Schedule 5 of

the Procurement Act 2023, the conditions for a

direct award are met in this case. Grace & Tailor Ltd

is the only supplier with intimate operational

knowledge of these specific events required to

deliver the complex infrastructure for the Black

Music Festival and Leeds West Indian Carnival.

Their longstanding involvement in these events,

combined with their established relationships with

infrastructure providers, makes them uniquely

positioned to meet the specific logistical and

technical demands of the event. More critically their

well-established relationships with both the Black

Health Initiative and Carnival Committee alongside

their understanding of the community requirements

puts them in a unique position to deliver the events

safely. There are also no reasonable alternatives as

the relevant experience and specialism is crucial to

ensuring the safe delivery of the event; the use of

any alternative could potentially give rise to

significant risk to public safety, staff welfare, and the

national reputation of the events. For these

reasons, the Council is satisfied that competition is

absent on technical grounds and there is no

reasonable alternative.