Direct award to Mace

Tender description

Under the framework guidance, I understand that direct appointments over £10,000 can be approved at Director level in exceptional circumstances, provided they sit below the FTS threshold. At £60,000, this commission is significantly within that limit. Please find attached the scope and fee proposal. 1. Rationale for Direct Award Mace has to date been providing joint project management support on behalf of Homes England and Summix. Although the joint commission has now been scaled back, Homes England wishes to retain Mace directly to support specific activities that cannot be resourced in-house and that are essential to maintaining momentum and accelerating delivery. We have also reached a point in the project where there is a slight divergence in commercial approaches between Homes England and Summix as we transition from the planning stage and start to look ahead to delivery phases. We now want to engage Mace to support on solely Homes England activities. This commission will provide focused programme and project management support to help achieve the following outcomes: 1. Achieve a deliverable planning consent (valid permission with manageable conditions). 2. Demonstrate scheme deliverability, including tested viability, necessary landowner agreements, and securing sufficient control to enable c. 250 homes on site by 2029 in line with the housing trajectory. 3. De-risk the site across technical, legal, financial, and land matters to support the above. Mace will add additional temporary resource into the project reflecting the multiple demands on the internal team at the moment and ensuring our governance is being followed. 2. Other Procurement Options Considered Worcestershire Parkway is at a pivotal stage. Following the submission of the planning applications in December, several urgent workstreams are now required to support determination, accelerate the programme, and evidence deliverability and viability. Given the urgency and the pace of current activity: There is insufficient time to run a competitive tender process. A tender would likely delay mobilisation by approximately two months, which the programme cannot accommodate. A new supplier would require significant briefing and onboarding, which would draw heavily on internal resource that is already stretched. Mace’s existing knowledge of the project provides an immediate and material advantage, avoiding lost time and reducing programme risk. For these reasons, a direct award is the only procurement route capable of meeting the project’s requirements and timescales. 3. Value for Money Assessment I consider this proposal to represent good value for money for the following reasons: The work is required urgently to support the New Homes Accelerator programme and maintain the trajectory for starts on site and completions within this Parliament. A competitive tender would likely result in higher overall costs due to onboarding and delay, and would require internal resource that is not available. Mace’s proposed fee is consistent with the framework-approved rates. In addition, they have applied a discounted rate, approximately 7.5% below the DaRTS framework rate, equivalent to a saving of around £4,900. This further strengthens the value for money case. Mace’s day rates for Project and Cost Management fall within the mid-range of fees on Lot 1 of the DaRTS Framework. (Note: the 7.5% discount has been applied to the total fee; however, this discount is not reflected in the hourly rates shown below.) The table below provides an extract of the Lot 1 panel rates for Project and Cost Management. DARTS Framework.