Contract Award- Supply of Property and Commercial Legal Advice for the Manydown Project

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council (‘BDBC’) and Hampshire County Council (‘HCC’) are the leaseholders of approximately 840 hectares of land at Manydown, near Basingstoke. BDBC and HCC are in the process of procuring a consortium of consultants to prepare a Detailed Masterplan and submit a Planning Application for the first phase of the Manydown project that is defined as the site allocation contained in the emerging Local Plan.

This particular requirement relates to the commissioning of property and commercial legal advice for the Manydown project, to include subsequent procurement of a development partner if appropriate. BDBC will be acting in the capacity as ‘lead authority’. It is envisaged the commissioned legal advice service will cover:

• (I)Legal agreements and documentation;
• (ii)Conveyancing of land interests;
• (iii)Future commercial and non-commercial organisation and governance structures;
• (iv)Associated compliance and regulatory issues including but not limited to procurement, State Aid, vires and Local Government legislation;
• (v)Procurement of strategic partner(s) to jointly develop and deliver the Manydown project alongside BDBC/ HCC through relevant corporate or joint venture structure(s);
• (vi)Governance structures and issues;
• (vii)Adaptable legal service which can offer responsive, high quality advice and where necessary, negotiation and recommendations. The advice required will need to be from the perspective of the councils as joint landowners and developers of the Manydown project. It is envisaged that the contract will operate for a period of between 3 to 5 years, but this may vary according to how, and the speed at which, the Manydown project progresses as whole.

This procurement process was conducted in accordance with the Public Contract Regulations, under an Open Procedure. The OJEU Contract Notice was published on 1 June 2015

Additional information: The Council is utilising an electronic tendering tool to manage this procurement and communicate with Tenderers. Accordingly, there will be no hard copy documents issued to Tenderers and all communications with the Council, including the submission of Tenderers’ Responses, will be conducted via the ProContract system, which can be accessed using the following link: https://www.businessportal.southeastiep.gov.uk