Supply of Granite

Concepts

• granite
• plymouth
• plymouth city council
• supply of 10,450m2 granite paving
• various granite objects
• supply of granite
• civic square
• new public realm scheme
• old town street
• grant funding timescales

Location

Plymouth

Description

To appoint a supplier for the manufacture and supply of 10,450m2 granite paving plus various granite objects, including walling and seating, for a new public realm scheme led by Plymouth City Council including Old Town Street, New George Street and Civic Square under the Better Places Programme. The granite is required to enable the project to be delivered in accordance with grant funding timescales which require the funding to be expended by 31st March 2023.

Total Quantity or Scope

Negotiated procedure without prior publication in accordance with Regulation 32 (2) (c) - of the Public Contract Regulations 2015

Award Detail

CPV Codes

• 44912100 - Granite

Indicators

Legal Justification

Plymouth City Council (The Council) is currently leading the delivery of public realm works in Plymouth City Centre. As part of these works, granite paving and objects are required to deliver on the quality objectives. A contractor was procured, via a compliant framework agreement, for the Old Town Street/New George Street public realm works and authorised to commence limited works whilst the main contract was being progressed, subject to final agreement. The intention was for the supply of the granite to be procured via the main contractor, once formally in contract. However, despite protracted negotiations, it was not possible to agree the terms of the contract and a decision was made not to proceed with the contract. This eventuality was unforeseen. It therefore was not possible to order the granite via the contractor. This leaves the Council in a situation where granite has yet to be ordered but is vital for the works to proceed, especially because work onsite has already begun, including digging up and removal of the existing paving. The project cannot be delivered without the granite and will impact on other project deliverables and cause programme delay. The Council needs to maintain its commitments to expend central government grant money through the Transforming Cities Fund Programme that is time restricted and requires funding to be spent by March 2023. The Council is now procuring an alternative contractor for the public realm works but there will not be sufficient time for this contractor to order the granite so the Council must directly order it. In addition to Old Town Street/New George Street, the new contractor will also be responsible for the smaller Civic Square paving works also funded by the Transforming Cities Fund and has the same funding deadline. The key reason for bringing the granite supply for these schemes together into one procurement is to provide consistency in the materials, to allow operational flexibility for the contractor installing the granite and to drive better value. The types of granite paving are common to both schemes and by bringing the requirements together, the contractor is able to draw upon a single source of granite which can be used flexibly according to programme needs across both projects. Hardscape Products were previously competitively procured as the supplier of granite via a subcontractor appointment to the initial contractor. Hardscape Products are now willing to work with the Council direct and can meet the challenging project timescales and have already completed feasibility drawings. There are currently long lead times for granite in the market. The lead in period for granite supply is currently 4 months and due to the high quantity and specialist nature of the granite requirements, the contractor can only produce it in batches delivered over a 7-month period. The Council has explored alternative options to procure the granite via a compliant framework but due to the extreme urgency, a competitive process would take too long. The quantities and bespoke nature of some of the granite objects mean that the direct award options under the frameworks are not suitable. The use of the negotiated procedure without prior publication will enable the Council to complete the construction of its extensive programme of public realm works in a timely fashion, minimising disruption to the public and its retail partners. There is extreme urgency for this project to progress to be able to repave and re-open the pavement and road as this is already causing a negative impact on the public and retail partners resulting in negative reputation for the Council. Any other route would not allow the Council to procure the granite in reasonable time, resulting in project delay and risk of the Council losing the funding and leading to potential project failure. Additionally, the Council must uphold its reputation. This route gives the Council the most certainty for project success.