South Lincolnshire Academies Trust - Tender for Cleaning Services

The successful Supplier will be required to provide cleaning services for South Lincolnshire Academies Trust.

South Lincolnshire Academies Trust was formed in 2011 and currently includes both Bourne Academy, PE10 9DT and Spalding Academy, PE11 2EJ. The schools are 14 miles apart.

This is the first time that the schools have participated in a shared competitive tender for cleaning services, currently having separate commercial cleaning service providers in place.

Bourne Academy is an 11 to 18 mixed comprehensive school, with circa 1 350 pupils on roll.

Spalding Academy is a mixed comprehensive secondary school, with circa 900 pupils on roll.

Both schools are oversubscribed with rising demand and have a shared focus of high expectations, with a firm, fair and consistently applied code of conduct which is understood by students, teachers and parents/carers.

Planned investment in the schools includes new buildings, which shall be completed in September 2018 and an additional 4 classrooms in April 2019.

The contract will commence on 1.4.2019 for an initial period of 3 years, with the opportunity to extend for a further period of 2 years at the discretion of the governing body. The successful Supplier will invoice the client for 1/12 of the annual cost on a monthly basis, also guaranteeing both the number of input hours to the contract and the quality of cleaning provision. Any variations to the contract that are requested by the Client should be invoiced at the agreed rate and should be calculated on an hourly rate per employee needed to carry out the variation to the satisfaction of the contract supervising officer. The Client's requirement shall be for 190 academic days, 5 inset days and 20 days periodic cleaning per annum.

Whilst the monthly charge will represent 1/12 of the contract cost, a reconciliation will take place to reconcile the actual hours worked within the contract. If the hours worked are less than those budgeted for then a credit will be required by the Client. The Client requires that the tendered amount of hours are worked at all times and the successful Supplier is expected to have a system in place to cover for both planned and unplanned leave.

The basis and rationale that the Client requires the successful Supplier to operate to at all times is being able to provide clean schools that are fit for purpose and that the Supplier is proactive in the management of the contract, thus ensuring that all specifications are achieved and that the frequency of cleans is as detailed within the specification and continued innovation of processes throughout the contract term will be pivotal to the success of the new contract.

The Supplier shall provide a comprehensive cleaning service to the sites so as to promote a clean, healthy and safe environment which presents a positive image to all users and visitors.

(Further information is provided in the SQ Documentation.)

Additional information: Interest in the selection process should be expressed via email only to pqq@litmuspartnership.co.uk clearly stating within this email which contract / notice you are referring to. Please also provide, as a minimum, a contact name, full company postal address and telephone number.

The Selection Questionnaire and associated documents can be obtained at: http://www.litmuspartnership.co.uk/project/south_lincolnshire_academies_trust

The closing date for receipt of the Selection Questionnaire is 26.10.2018 (12:00). Suppliers are required to ensure that documents are obtained and returned to The Litmus Partnership Limited, by email to pqq@litmuspartnership.co.uk by the above closing date and time.

Documents in respect of economic / financial standing (where indicated in the Selection Questionnaire) shall be returned to The Litmus Partnership Limited, by email to pqq@litmuspartnership.co.uk by the above closing date and time.

It will be the Supplier's responsibility to obtain any necessary documents in order to submit a response by the closing date and time.

The Contracting Authority reserves the right not to award any or part of the contract which is the subject of this Contract Notice and reserves the right to terminate the procurement process at any time.

The Contracting Authority will not be liable for any costs incurred by those expressing an interest in tendering for this contract opportunity.

The Contracting Authority will consider variant bids, evaluating them (so far as the variant or the evaluation of the variant is in the opinion of the Contracting Authority practicable) on the same basis as a conforming bid, but shall not be obliged to accept any such bid in preference to a conforming bid even if the variant bid scores more highly. No variant will be considered unless the bidder simultaneously submits a conforming bid.