Public utilities

Description

Eastbourne Borough Council (EBC) (with Lewes District Council) is appointing private sector partners to participate and invest in a public private partnership which may extend to other local government and public sector related organisations and associated partners within the local DNO region and the UK. Participation may be either by direct participation in the Joint Venture or through the provision of services, works or supplies by the Joint Venture. EBC wants to respond to the energy sector's trilemma of increasing prices, future shortage of supply, and the need to reduce carbon emissions. EBC also wants to be prepared for the challenges and uncertainty the food chain will face when major global food regions are under threat from extreme weather patterns. The JV arrangement may involve services, works or supplies being developed and delivered and commercial opportunities taken forward over the next 20 — 30 years in a number of sectors: Energy, Transport, Food, Waste and Water. The commercial opportunities that will be available for each of the sustainability sectors listed below are based on what EBC and other participants want to achieve over the next 20-30 years. A list of potential starter projects were identified in the MOI published with the Contract Notice. The JV arrangement may involve services, works or supplies being developed and delivered and commercial opportunities taken forward in a number of sectors, summarised below: — Energy — efficiency, generation, supply, demand and distribution, R&D; — Transport — cleaner transport and vehicle usage; — Fresh food production — next generation commercial greenhouses linked with energy generation; — Fresh fish or protein production — sustainable fish or protein farms linked with energy generation; — Waste — collection and circular economy; — Water — supply and adaption. The final Joint Venture (JV) structure was developed during the negotiation process and is an incremental partnership drawing on the approaches developed by joint venture models such as the Hub concept that was developed by the Scottish Futures Trust. However, unlike the Hub model, rather than form a company at the outset for the JV element of the arrangements, the initial arrangement is to have a contractual JV which may, if the parties agree, be incorporated during the course of the arrangements. A Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) has been put in place which acts as the umbrella or top-level governance arrangement in terms of the relationship with the selected joint venture partner as well as setting out the process in relation to the delivery of projects, supplies, works and services. The SPA therefore sets up multiple layers of involvement to cover these different elements. The primary purpose of the initial contractual Joint Venture is to develop business cases and once a business case is developed it will be taken forwards through separate project agreements and Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs). The basis of the exact arrangements for each project will come out of the business plan process — these might be an extension of the JV in nature or might be more works/services/supplies based or involve concessions. The JV will provide (or arrange for the provision of) ‘Partnering Services’ in relation to the needs of the JV Areas and UK JV Areas primarily to provide and deliver (or manage the provision or delivery through its supply chain) of a mixture of energy and sustainability works, services and supplies (‘Transformational Projects’) the beneficiaries of which may be the public participants named in the Contract Notice or the wider public, commercial and other organisations based or operating in the UK. It is anticipated that the Transformational Projects may be delivered through a range of contractual and financial structures and may include special purpose vehicles established by the JV and participants in the JV arrangements. The Partnering Services to be provided by the JV may also include but will not be limited to: Partnering and Collaborative Working; Estate Management; demonstration of Continuous Improvement in Value for Money; Property Development; Supply Chain Management; Funding; Regeneration and Community Involvement; Strategic Estate Planning and Service Planning.