Procurement of Scottish Air Quality Website and Database: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for the following information in relation to the procurement of the Scottish Air Quality Website and Database:

• information on market analysis, engagement and consultation which may have been undertaken when developing the procurement strategy.
• information which relates to the procurement outcome and contains a reference to ‘value for money’.
• information containing a reference to monopolies or the positioning of the incumbent provider within the marketplace.
• information which sets out the Scottish Government’s decision on whether the procurement in question will be divided into lots.

Response

In response to your request, I have made extracts, of information relating to your request, from a number of more general documents.

1. Information on market analysis, engagement and consultation which may have been undertaken when developing the procurement strategy.
(Extracts from a “Procurement Strategy”)

"MARKET ENGAGEMENT & CONSULTATION
No pre-market engagement has been undertaken as there has been contractual cover in place for SAQD since 2006 and SG is aware that there is a niche market for this requirement. One of the previous procurements received 34 notes of interest and the current contract received 3 tender responses which demonstrates that there is interest in the market place but not a high number of suitable qualified companies.
By competing this under the Open Procedure this will widen the opportunity to investigate the market fully.
For the previous procurement it is believed that some smaller companies were put off by the scale of the project.
During the previous procurement concerns had been received from one supplier about splitting the requirement into Lots.  This was not considered to be cost effective or suitable for the service required and this was reflected in the  previous OJEU Contract Notice and the ITT.  The supplier was advised the this is a complex project with many different elements that need to interact efficiently if a sufficient standard of performance is to be maintained, which was in Scottish Government’s view best achieved with a single supplier.
Despite the fact that this is a complex project the customer and SGPT have since had numerous discussions and have decided to separate the audit element of the requirement in order to encourage a greater range of applicants from the market.”

MARKET ANALYSIS

SUMMARY
Although a previous competition, which covered the period 1 April 2013 until 30 March 2016 received 34 notes of interest, the competition for the Contract which ran from 2016 until 2019 only received three tenders from:

• Bureau Veritas UK Ltd
• Envitech Europe Ltd
• Ricardo AEA Ltd

The Contract was awarded to Ricardo AEA Ltd.                                                                      
Due to the unique nature of this requirement there are no frameworks available against which we could compete this requirement.

SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES
In consideration of the EU definition of Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs), thought has been given towards the participation of SMEs in this procurement exercise. Due to the nature and scale of the contract, it is envisaged that there will be limited opportunities for prime contracting with SMEs but there may be some sub-contracting opportunities. Within the ESPD (Qualification Envelope) and the Form of Tender, tenderers will be required to confirm whether they are an SME.

SUPPORTED BUSINESSES
Consideration has been given to how Supported Businesses could be included in this procurement exercise. Due to the nature of services required, no supported businesses have been identified as being able to deliver the requirement. However, bidders will be asked to consider using supported businesses within their supply chain as part of an overall question on ‘Sustainability’.

THIRD SECTOR ORGANISATIONS
Consideration has also been given to how Third Sector organisations may participate in this procurement exercise. Due to the nature and scale of the contract, it is envisaged that there will be limited opportunities for prime contracting with Third Sector organisations but there may be some sub-contracting opportunities. Within the ESPD (Qualification Envelope) and the Form of Tender, tenderers will be required to confirm whether they are a Third Sector organisation.”

2. Information which relates to the procurement outcome and contains a reference to ‘value for money’.
(Extracts from a “Contract Award Recommendation Report”)

“PRICE EVALUATION (COMMERCIAL ENVELOPE)
The pricing for this procurement was on the basis of a price per year for delivery of the items detailed in the SOR, an option to highlight any additional costs which are associated with the delivery of the SOR.  A second element of the pricing captured a man day rate for the staff who would be used to deliver the contract.  These costs did not form part of the commercial evaluation but will be used if the contract is extended or amended to calculate the cost of the additional services.   
The price scores for each bidder are outlined in Table 1 below.
 

Bidder Name	Tender Evaluation Sum	Price Score (out of 100)
Ricardo-AEA	£400,000.00	40.00

Table 1: Price Scores

SAVINGS
In accordance with the Procurement Benefits Reporting Guidance, no savings can be claimed in respect of this tender exercise as only one tender was received.  The winning tender price of £400,000.00 is the same cost as the current contract which has been in place for 3 years at a cost of £400,000.00.” 

3. Information containing a reference to monopolies or the positioning of the incumbent provider within the marketplace.
(See extract provided in response to item 1 above.)

4. Information which sets out the Scottish Government’s decision on whether the procurement in question will be divided into lots.
(See extract provided in response to item 1 above, plus the following extract from the same document.)

"LOTTING
Consideration has been given to whether it is appropriate to divide this contract into lots and it has been decided that the requirement will be separated into two different procurements both of which are covered by this procurement strategy.”

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