Masterplan Consultancy Services for Ebbsfleet Central Area - modification of an existing contract

Original contract was called off from Homes England Framework for Multi-Disciplinary Consultant leading on engineering, infrastructure, and transport.

The Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) designation of the relevant site for development, which happened during the term of the contract was the main cause of this contract variation.

The SSSI designation created significant new constraints and impacted on all aspects of the drafted outline planning application and proposed development.

At this stage the contracted services were well progressed and the service provider was fully integrated into the project and had undertaken significant work.

A change of service provider would have created significant abortive cost to the Contracting Authority including loss of time whilst a new contractor was onboarded and duplication of all work undertaken to date by the existing supplier.

72(1) C allows for modifications to made if brought about by circumstances which a diligent contracting authority could not have foreseen. Ebbsfleet Development Corporation undertook significant due diligence prior to contracting this supplier and there was no evidence that Natural England were considering a Site of Special Scientific Interest designation during the procurement of the services and this is therefore considered to be an unforeseeable circumstance.