Guidance & Instructions for the Invitation to Tender RESTRICTED PROCESS

Guidance & Instructions for the Invitation to Tender RESTRICTED PROCESS

FOR INFORMATION ONLY

ONLY FOR USE BY THOSE SUPPLIERSWHOPASS

THE PRE-QUALIFICATION STAGE

REFERENCE SBC - 001233

1. Background

2. Form of this Invitation to Tender (ITT)

3. Conditions of Tender

3.1Contract Term and Summary of Instructions

3.2Tender Timetable

3.3Tender Requirements

3.4Contract Requirements

3.5Commercial Requirements

3.6Tender Clarification and Site Visits

3.7Award Criteria & Marking Scale

4. Evaluation Process

5.Additional Information

6. Disclaimers and Legal Compliance

1.Background

Slough, ReadingWokingham Street Lighting Upgrade

This is a collaborative project between Slough Borough Council (SBC), Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) and Reading Borough Council (RBC) to modernise street lighting across all three boroughs and Slough Borough Council is acting as lead authority in accordance with the terms of an agreement between Slough Borough, Wokingham Borough and Reading Borough Councils. Project includes the installation of 38,651 energy efficient LED lanterns, replacement of 11,323 “at risk” street lighting columns and further implementation of Central Management Systems, to remotely manage street lighting levels to improve performance and efficiency.

This project is dependent on grant funding from the DfT and in order to meet the grant criteria the installation must be completed within a 2-year timeframe.

The Invitation to Tender (ITT)

The ITT is to be completed electronically using the SE Shared Services Procurement e-Sourcing portal.

The SE Shared Services e-Sourcing portal provides a web-based tool that enable The Council and Bidders to conduct the strategic activities of the procurement lifecycle over the internet. It provides a simple, secure and efficient means for managing tendering and quotation activities reducing the time and effort required for both buyers and Bidders.

Please note the following codes allocated to the ITT within the SE Shared Services Procurement e-Sourcing portal.

Before completing this ITT, Bidders should ensure that the email address that has been used to register will be checked regularly as the e-Sourcing system will generate automatic notifications to this email address when there are updates, changes or messages sent in the project. Bidders should also check that their organisation details are correct and up to date.

No information contained in this ITT or in any communication made between the Council and any Bidder in connection with this ITT shall be relied upon as constituting a contract, agreement or representation that any contract shall be offered in accordance with this ITT. The Council reserves the right, subject to the appropriate procurement regulations, to change without notice the basis of, or the procedures for, the competitive tendering process or to terminate the process at any time. Under no circumstances shall the Council incur any liability in respect of this ITT or any supporting documentation.

Direct or indirect canvassing of any Councillor, public sector employee or agent by any Bidder concerning this requirement, or any attempt to procure information from any Councillor, public sector employee or agent concerning this ITT may result in the disqualification of the Bidder from consideration for this requirement.

2. Form of this Invitation to Tender (ITT)

Bidders are expected to complete this ITT electronically via the Council’s e-Sourcing portal as described above. Please see section 3.3 Tender Requirements of this document for the list of questionnaires requiring completion. All tender documentation is accessible once bidders have expressed interest within the ITT tab of the project. Below is a summary of the documentation and how to access it.

3. Conditions of Tender

3.1Contract Term and Summary of Instructions

3.2Tender Timetable

3.2.1This timetable is indicative only. The Council reserves the right to change it at its discretion.

3.3Tender Requirements

3.3.1This Invitation to Tender (“ITT”) is issued to those shortlistedBidders to tender (“Bidders”) to Slough Borough Council(the “Council”) to provide Street Lighting Upgrade(“the “Contract”), their professional advisers and other parties essential to preparing a tender for this Contract (the “Tender”) and for no other purpose.

3.3.2A Tender shall only be accepted as compliant if all the required information (“Tender Proposal”), detailed below, are included within the submission.

Table 1: Award Criteria

Table 2: Requested Documents

3.3.3The Council reserves the right to issue supplementary documentation at any time during the tendering process to clarify any issue or amend any aspect of the ITT. All such further documentation that may be issued shall be deemed to form part of the ITT and shall supplement and/or supersede any part of the ITT to the extent indicated.

3.3.4Bidders must obtain for themselves at their own expense all information necessary for the preparation of their Tenders.

3.3.5Under the Contract the Council will require compliance with its policies. Bidders are advised to satisfy themselves that they understand all of the requirements of the Contract before submitting their Tender. Where additions or amendments are made to the clauses included in the Contract and are issued during the tendering process they shall supplement and/or supersede previous versions.

3.3.6The Tender must be received in accordance with the relevant instructions no later than the time and date indicated.

3.3.7Tenders must be completed in the English language or a full English translation provided at no cost to the Council.

3.3.8In completing their Tender submissions and/or requesting clarification, Bidders must refer back to the numbering format as set out in the Technical Specification.

3.3.9Only one Tender is permitted from each Bidder. In the event that more than one is submitted by a Bidder the one with the latest time of submission will be evaluated and the other(s) disregarded.

3.3.10The submission will be checked for completeness and compliance before responses are evaluated.

3.3.11The Tender (including price) should remain valid for a minimum period of 90 days and should not be qualified in any way.

3.3.12Any signatures must be made by a person who is authorised to commit the Bidder to the Contract.

3.3.13In the event that Bidders believe that they are unable to submit a Tender through the electronic system or require assistance or further information to be able to use the e-tendering process they must contact the Councilvia the messaging tool of the e-Sourcing portal no later than 4 calendar days before the Tender submission due date to enable any technical queries to be investigated and resolved.

3.3.14This ITT is made available in good faith. No warranty is given as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in it and any liability or any inaccuracy or incompleteness is therefore expressly disclaimed by the Council and its advisers

3.3.15The Council reserves the right to cancel the tender process at any point. The Council is not liable for any costs resulting fromany cancellation of this tender process or for any other costs incurred by those tendering for this Contract.

3.3.16Any contract award will be conditional on the Contract being approved in accordance with the Council’s internal procedures and the Council being generally able to proceed and will allow the statutory standstill period of a minimum of 10 calendar days to elapse before sending confirmation of contract award to the successful Bidder.

3.3.17You are deemed to understand fully the processes that the Council is required to follow under relevant European and UK legislation, particularly in relation to The Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

3.4Contract Requirements

3.4.1The Technical Specification details the required Service Level Agreements, Key Performance Indicators and overall Council requirement. The Bidder shall be required to confirm their ability to meet the Technical Specification through completion of the Quality Questionnaire in the e-Sourcing portal.

3.4.2The Bidderis required to accept the Contract Terms and Conditions without qualification failing which its Bid will be rejected.

3.4.3The Bidder’s terms of business will not be accepted in lieu of or in addition to the Contract Conditions forming part of this ITT

3.5Commercial Requirements

3.5.1Bidders must complete the Commercial Envelope within the e-Sourcing portal to provide all of the obligations under the Contract. Any additional or alternative pricing proposals can be sent via the messaging tool of the e-Sourcing portal as an attachment with a reason for their inclusion. Regardless of submitting an alternative bid, the Bidder must still provide a bid that is compliant with the specification.

3.5.2All Prices shall be stated in pounds sterling and exclusive of VAT.

3.5.3Bidders must ensure they have read and understood the specific conditions relating to the Tender detailed within the Commercial Envelope.

3.5.4Demand for the Slough, ReadingWokingham Street Lighting UpgradeProject may decrease or Increase during the tender activity and the three Councils’ circumstances may change. The three Councils do not guarantee any volume of business to the supplier.

3.6Tender Clarification and Site Visits

3.6.1All queries relating to content of this ITT should be made via the secure messaging service within the Tender section of the e-Sourcing website. All communication with the Council must be made by the Bidder’s Representative, quoting in the message heading the specific section and question numberfor which you require information or clarification. Please note it is SBC policy to publish responses to all queries, any questions deemed to be commercially confidential should therefore be clearly marked.

3.6.2Bidders may seek tender clarification by submitting written queries via the e-Sourcing portal up until the date and time stated in the tender time table.Please note that the Council’s responses to any queries or clarification requests may, at the Council’s discretion, be circulated to all Bidders.

3.6.3The Council may wish to undertake a site audit on your premises, in order to clarify any aspect of your tender submission.Following the site visit, the Council reserves the right to re-moderate the scores given to your submission.

3.7Award Criteria & Marking Scale

3.7.1In evaluating the tenders, the Council is seeking the Most Economically Advantageous Tender, while the Council reserves the right to accept the whole or any part of any Tender submitted.

3.7.2Tenders shall be evaluated according to the prescribed weighting below:

Quality & Sustainability Evaluation

3.7.3Quality will be measured upon evaluation of Bidders’ responses to theTender Quality Questionnaire. Each question in the Quality Questionnaire is marked using the following scores:

3.7.4Weighted quality scores will be calculated by multiplying the average score for each quality question by its individual weighting. The weighted scores will be totalled for each bid. The totals will then be normalised so that the bid with the highest total will attract the maximum quality score (i.e., 10 out of 10). Lower scoring bids will receive a proportional score. Finally, the overall quality weighting (i.e. 40%) will be applied to the normalised quality scores.

3.7.5 Any Bidder who achieves an ‘Unacceptable’ score of ‘0’ for any of the questions will be deemed to have failed to meet the Council’s minimum acceptable standards and therefore will not be evaluated further and will not be considered for contract award.

3.7.6Any Bidder who does not achieve any declared minimum quality score will be deemed to have failed to meet the Council’s minimum acceptable standards and therefore will not be evaluated further and will not be considered for contract award.

Price Evaluation

3.7.7Price will be evaluated based on the lowest price bidder achieving the maximum % for the pricing element. Higher priced bids will receive a proportional score based on the amount higher they are than the lowest bid price. For example if the price element is worth 40%:

Lowest Price (A)

Higher Price (B) X 40% = B’s Score

A = 10000

B = 14000 X 40% = In this example B’s price score is 28.5%

4. Evaluation Process

Tender submissions will be evaluated based on the following ITT Evaluation stages: