Supply of Self Drive Vehicle Hire

Estimated value excluding VAT: 750 000 GBP.

UK-Oldbury: vans

2012/S 59-096062

Contract notice

Supplies

Directive 2004/18/EC

Section I: Contracting authority

I.1)Name, addresses and contact point(s)

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
Procurement Services, Sandwell Council House, Freeth Street
Contact point(s): Transform Sandwell Procurement Team
For the attention of: Sam Turner
B69 3DB Oldbury
UNITED KINGDOM
Telephone: +44 1215693619
E-mail: tspcm_team@sandwell.gov.uk

Internet address(es):

General address of the contracting authority: www.sandwell.gov.uk

Further information can be obtained from: The above mentioned contact point(s)

Specifications and additional documents (including documents for competitive dialogue and a dynamic purchasing system) can be obtained from: The above mentioned contact point(s)

Tenders or requests to participate must be sent to: The above mentioned contact point(s)

I.2)Type of the contracting authority

Regional or local authority

I.3)Main activity

General public services

I.4)Contract award on behalf of other contracting authorities

The contracting authority is purchasing on behalf of other contracting authorities: yes

Section II: Object of the contract

II.1)Description

II.1.1)Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority:

The Supply of Self Drive Vehicle Hire.

II.1.2)Type of contract and location of works, place of delivery or of performance

Supplies
Rental
NUTS code UKG3

II.1.3)Information about a public contract, a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system (DPS)

The notice involves the establishment of a framework agreement

II.1.4)Information on framework agreement

Framework agreement with several operators
maximum number of participants to the framework agreement envisaged: 17
Duration of the framework agreement

Duration in months: 36
Estimated total value of purchases for the entire duration of the framework agreement

Estimated value excluding VAT: 750 000 GBP

II.1.5)Short description of the contract or purchase(s)

This tender exercise is being conducted electronically in conjunction with a company called e-Three via their externally hosted web server. Your attention is drawn to VI.3.
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (the Council) is responsible for co-ordinating vehicle hire throughout the borough of Sandwell. Working with the Transform Sandwell procurement team, the Council wishes to run a tender exercise to establish a Framework Agreement for the Provision of Vehicle Hire to supply a range of cars, vans, mini-buses, tippers, gritters and other specialist vehicles.
Transform Sandwell is a strategic partnership between Sandwell Council & British Telecom delivering a range of corporate and support services over a 15 year period, including procurement and finance.
The framework agreement will last for three years, with the option to extend for a further year. To give an indication of the volume of business this could entail, during the last 12 months 545 vehicles were hired for 5 539 days. Annual expenditure for the supply of self drive vehicle hire is estimated to be in the region of 250 000 GBP. This figure is intended to be used as a guide only and is not a guarantee of the level of business that will be generated from this framework agreement.
The Council is following an open procedure for award of this framework agreement. Only those submissions which meet the minimum selection criteria will be evaluated. The minimum selection criteria are minimum standards which the Council will require its appointed contractors to meet or exceed and so are of a pass/fail nature. These are; mandatory exclusions (such as any conviction under Regulation 23 of the Public Contract Regulations 2006), economic & financial standing and insurance cover. It is unlikely that any tenderer which fails on the minimum selection criteria will proceed to the next round of evaluation, although the Council does reserve the right to consider each case on its merits, and assess the risks and implications involved in proceeding. Tenderers that meet the minimum selection criteria will then be scored on the evaluation criteria. Each vehicle contract award will be determined individually on price (90 %), vehicle availability (5 %) and delivery response (5 %). Tenderers can bid for as many of the vehicles as they wish, but for each vehicle they bid against they must provide 3 prices, one each for daily, weekly daily and monthly daily. The Council reserves the right to award the contracts to one or more contractors per vehicle. Once the framework is awarded, on each occasion that a relevant council employee has to order a specific vehicle type they must purchase from the supplier who has the relevant vehicle type available for delivery at the required time. Where more than one supplier has the vehicle type available for delivery at the required time the employee must purchase the vehicle from the cheapest of those suppliers.
All orders placed under the framework agreement will be in accordance with Sandwell MBCs Terms and Conditions for the Supply of Goods and Services and the Special Conditions of Contract for the Supply of Self Drive Vehicle Hire.

II.1.6)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)

34136000, 34134000, 34140000

II.1.7)Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

The contract is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA): yes

II.1.8)Lots

This contract is divided into lots: no

II.1.9)Information about variants

Variants will be accepted: no

II.2)Quantity or scope of the contract

II.2.1)Total quantity or scope:

II.2.2)Information about options

Options: no

II.2.3)Information about renewals

II.3)Duration of the contract or time limit for completion

Duration in months: 36 (from the award of the contract)

Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information

III.1)Conditions relating to the contract

III.1.1)Deposits and guarantees required:

Minimum financial standing requirements are set out in the tender document and in III.1.3 below. Any.
Contractor who does not have the minimum required standing, to satisfactorily resource the framework agreement, will be required to provide an undertaking from other entities to that effect, if such are to be relied upon. Full details are included within the tender document.

III.1.2)Main financing conditions and payment arrangements and/or reference to the relevant provisions governing them:

The Councils standard payment terms are 30 days.

III.1.3)Legal form to be taken by the group of economic operators to whom the contract is to be awarded:

The Contractor will have read and agree to be bound by the Councils Terms and Conditions for the.
Supply of Goods and Services and the Special.
Conditions of Contract for the Supply of Self Drive Vehicle Hire.

III.1.4)Other particular conditions

The performance of the contract is subject to particular conditions: no

III.2)Conditions for participation

III.2.1)Personal situation of economic operators, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers

Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met: Any Contractor (or a Contractor which intends to use Sub-Contractors) to undertake a role in the performance of this framework agreement or those who represent the controlling mind of the company which have been convicted of any offence detailed within Regulation 23 of The Public Contract Regulations 2006, which implements Article 45 (1) of the 2004 EU Public Sector Procurement Directive, which are unspent, will be excluded and not considered. Full details are included within the tender document.

III.2.2)Economic and financial ability

Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met: Contractors shall prove to the Council that they are of sufficient stature as having sufficient financial standing to perform the framework agreement.
The contractor will be a private limited or public limited company that has registered trading accounts with Companies House. The Council will obtain an independent financial report for each contractor from a business information service provider, (Dun and Bradstreet) who will have assessed the last 4 years (where appropriate) of accounts that were registered at Companies House. The report will be obtained using the company registration number as requested in the tender document.
The Dun and Bradstreet report provides a rating made up of 2 parts, financial strength indicator and risk indicator.
The financial strength indicator is based upon a businesses tangible net worth and ranges from 5A through to H, where 5A indicates the strongest financial strength and H indicates the weakest financial strength.
The risk indicator is derived from the percentile score and is classified and ranged from 1 through to 4, with 1 indicating the lowest risk and 4 the highest risk.
A tangible net worth bracket for H is from 0 GBP to 7 999 GBP.
The risk indicator value of 3 = a slightly greater than average risk of failure.
Follow weblink http://www.dnb.co.uk/_downloads/pdf/DnB_Rating_Guide.pdf for a more indepth explanation of the Dun and Bradstreet ratings.

For the purpose of this framework agreement a financial strength indicator of H and above, together with a risk indicator of 3 or above is required.
If the financial strength indicator and the risk indicator do not meet these requirements the contractor may rely upon the capacities of other entities or members in the group as provided in the tender document. In this instance the contractor or the group of contractors will provide an undertaking from the other entity to that effect. The Council will undertake further independent financial checks with Dun and Bradstreet of the entity that is willing to provide the undertaking to obtain their financial strength indicator and risk indicator which must be equal to or greater than the above required standard. Full details are included within the tender document.
Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required: The levels of insurance cover required for this framework agreement are as follows:
Public / Products Liability Cover 5 000 000 GBP per claim;
Employers Liability Cover 5 000 000 GBP per claim.
Full details are included within the tender document.

III.2.3)Technical capacity

III.2.4)Information about reserved contracts

III.3)Conditions specific to services contracts

III.3.1)Information about a particular profession

Execution of the service is reserved to a particular profession: no

III.3.2)Staff responsible for the execution of the service

Legal persons should indicate the names and professional qualifications of the staff responsible for the execution of the service: no

Section IV: Procedure

IV.1)Type of procedure

IV.1.1)Type of procedure

Open

IV.1.2)Limitations on the number of operators who will be invited to tender or to participate

IV.1.3)Reduction of the number of operators during the negotiation or dialogue

Recourse to staged procedure to gradually reduce the number of solutions to be discussed or tenders to be negotiated no

IV.2)Award criteria

IV.2.1)Award criteria

The most economically advantageous tender in terms of the criteria stated below

1. Price. Weighting 90

2. Vehicle availability. Weighting 5

3. Delivery response. Weighting 5

IV.2.2)Information about electronic auction

An electronic auction will be used: no

IV.3)Administrative information

IV.3.1)File reference number attributed by the contracting authority:

SCC110

IV.3.2)Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract

IV.3.3)Conditions for obtaining specifications and additional documents or descriptive document

Payable documents: no

IV.3.4)Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate

7.5.2012

IV.3.5)Date of dispatch of invitations to tender or to participate to selected candidates

IV.3.6)Language(s) in which tenders or requests to participate may be drawn up

English.

IV.3.7)Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender

in days: 120 (from the date stated for receipt of tender)

IV.3.8)Conditions for opening tenders

Persons authorised to be present at the opening of tenders: yes
Additional information about authorised persons and opening procedure: Nominated officers of Transform Sandwell & Sandwell MBC.

Section VI: Complementary information

VI.1)Information about recurrence

This is a recurrent procurement: no

VI.2)Information about European Union funds

The contract is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: no

VI.3)Additional information

This exercise is being executed electronically in conjunction with a company called e-Three via their externally hosted web server.
In order to participate and submit a Tender you will need to register on e-Threes website at the following address: http://e-three.force.com/supplierzone

Then follow the registration procedure. There are self help registration guides and videos to assist you. Should you have any problems at this stage, e-Three provide both email and telephone support. Links and numbers are listed on the registration page.
Following registration, please confirm by email to tspcm_team@sandwell.gov.uk in order for your company to be invited to participate.

If you have any technical queries relating to the electronic tendering process please contact the eSourcing Team at the following email address or contact them directly:
TSPCM_team@sandwell.gov.uk

Andy Jukes.
Tel: +44 1215693635.
Anita Patel.
Tel: +44 1215693809.
Sam Turner.
Tel: +44 1215693619.
Sandwell MBC supports the West Midlands Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership (RIEP) recommendation with regards to collaborative working. As a result other local authorities within the Black Country Purchasing Consortium (Dudley, Walsall and Wolverhampton) may wish to utilise this contract any time during its course.

VI.4)Procedures for appeal

VI.4.1)Body responsible for appeal procedures

Sandwell MBC
Service Insight Team, Sandwell Council House, Freeth Street
B69 3DE Oldbury
UNITED KINGDOM
E-mail: serviceinsight_team@sandwell.gov.uk
Telephone: +44 8453597510
Internet address: www.sandwell.gov.uk

Body responsible for mediation procedures

As in VI.4.1

VI.4.2)Lodging of appeals

VI.4.3)Service from which information about the lodging of appeals may be obtained

As in VI.4.1

VI.5)Date of dispatch of this notice:21.3.2012