Hyde Park Music Festival 2022-2027

Concepts

• event services
• hyde park music festival
• hyde park
• the hyde park music festival
• park
• 2022
• hyde
• festival
• music
• june

Location

London

Description

The purpose of this Voluntary Ex-ante Transparency Notice is to inform the market of the additional services to be performed by AEG Presents Ltd ("Event Organiser") in respect of contract for the operation and management of the Hyde Park Music Festival ("HPMF"), originally procured for a period of 6 years starting on 30 June 2020 and ending on 30 June 2025 (the "Contract"). The Contract has previously been amended on account of legal proceedings challenging the Contract award decision and the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic (the "Pandemic"): the combined effect of these events was that the HPMF first took place in 2022. Subsequently, there was a further amendment to allow the Event Organiser to hold two additional days' worth of annual events (the "Two Slots") in 2022, 2023 and 2024 such that nine instead of seven concerts were held each year. This Voluntary Ex-ante Transparency Notice gives notice that the Authority proposes to vary the terms of the Contract to allow the Event Organiser to host an additional Two Slots in 2025, 2026 and 2027 and an additional one year extension for 2028. In 2028 the Authority is mandated to host three fan-zones for the UEFA Euro 2028 (the "Fan Zones") which will take place as the same time as the HPMF. The only viable location for the Fan Zones is in the same location as the HPMF in Hyde Park (the "Park"). Accordingly, the proposed variation to the Contract will allow the Event Organiser to hold nine (instead of seven) concerts in 2025, 2026 and 2027 as well as a one-year Contract extension to 2028 in which the Event Organiser will host three Fan Zones and six concerts.

Total Quantity or Scope

The Authority invited tenders for an event contract for the operation and management of HPMF, originally procured for a six-year period starting on 30 June 2020 and ending on 30 June 2025. The Contract was awarded on 29 September 2020 to the Event Organiser. The Contract was subsequently amended on account of legal proceedings challenging the Contract award decision and the Pandemic as well as for an additional Two Slots to be held in 2022, 2023 and 2024 which had become necessary because a concession contract for an event in September had expired during the Pandemic. The proposed variation to the Contract will allow the Event Organiser to hold nine (instead of seven) concerts in 2025, 2026 and 2027 as well as a one-year Contract extension to 2028. In 2028 the Event Organiser will host six concerts and three Fan Zones. The modified Contract will have a term expiring in 2028. All of the events permissible each year under the contract (including the Two Slots and the Fan Zones) will be held within a three-week time period in June and July each year.

Award Detail

CPV Codes

• 79952000 - Event services

Indicators

Legal Justification

This is an Event Services contract (the main CPV code being 79952000). It is therefore classified as 'social and other specific services' listed in Schedule 3 of the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016, to which Regulation 43 of the CCR does not apply. The Authority has decided to publish this Voluntary Ex-ante Transparency Notice as a matter merely of transparency. Notwithstanding the above, the Authority considers the variation and extension to the Contract is required on the following grounds: - The cost of staging smaller standalone events (whether that be the Two Slots and/or the Fan Zones) would be prohibitively expensive and would cause significant disruption to the Park environment and its visitors. In particular, the necessity of staging the HPMF and Fan Zones within the same space and timeframe is operationally complex and requires a contractor who has sufficient technical experience of how best to utilise the relevant infrastructure to meet the demands of both types of event, one of which (as of 11 April 2023 TRP was advised by DCMS that it was required to stage the Fan Zones) has been mandated and imposed on the Authority (albeit at cost). - It is therefore not practical for HPMF to be operated in 2028 by a different contractor from the Event Organiser. Delivering both the music concerts and Fan-Zones would be operationally difficult for a new provider without the Event Organiser's level of experience and may cause significant inconvenience and potentially a duplication of costs for the Authority. - The proposed amendments are not substantial as that expression is defined in Regulation 43(9). The character and nature of the Contract remains the same as that of the initially concluded Contract. The economic balance remains unchanged because the amendment does not change the reward and risk mechanism in the Contract. Instead, it provides for the least disruptive means for the Authority to deliver HPMF and Fan-Zones which has both a public benefit and a financial benefit which ultimately accrues to the Authority, which is the trading arm of a registered charity. In so far as it is necessary for it to do so, the Authority will rely on Regulation 43(1)(e).