Agenda item

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

            The Convener declared an interest in the subject matter of the following article by virtue of his position as Chairperson of NESTRANS.  The Convener did not feel it was necessary to withdraw from the eeting during consideration of this item.

With reference to article 40 of the minute of meeting of the former Resources Management Committee of 10 March 2009, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure which requested approval to award places on the framework agreement for consultancy services for transportation and environmental related professional services to consultants, as outlined within the report.

By way of background the report advised that the Council, along with Aberdeenshire Council and in conjunction with NESTRANS, had an existing framework agreement with consultants to undertake the provision of these services until the end of March, 2010.  This new framework agreement would start in April, 2010 and run for a period of three years with an option to extend the contract for a further two years.

The report continued that the purpose of this framework agreement was to augment the Council’s and NESTRAN’S in house professional service capabilities and expertise, to cope with increases and peaks in workload, and retain flexibility of resources and ensure best value in the use of such external resources as and when required.

The report explained that the new framework agreement had been split into six separate packages, which had been developed by identifying particular elements of works that could be grouped together based on the Council’s project requirements and consultants’ areas of expertise.  The six packages were outlined as follows:-

1.         Policy Support and Development (including travel planning, active travel, surveys, data collection and analysis, public transport planning);

2.         Strategic Planning (including transport modelling, feasibility studies, environmental studies and development management);

3.         Design and Delivery (including traffic management, road safety, parking zones, footways, junction layouts etc.);

4.         Traffic Signals and IT Solutions (a specialist commission for the design and coordination of traffic signal networks and linkage to real time and other public information systems);

5.         Public Transport Support and Development (including strategy and policy development, fares and ticketing and infrastructure feasibility studies); and

6.         Technical Advice on Waste Management (including landfill management and waste strategy appraisals).

The report continued to outline the tendering process to date and concluded that subject to the approval by all three authorities, a formal letter of confirmation would be sent out to the successful consultants who would be awarded a place in the framework agreement.  A legally required ten day standstill period would follow where unsuccessful bidders could challenge the outcome of the selection process. The successful consultants would be commissioned to provide the appropriate professional services and support, as necessary, to this Council, Aberdeenshire Council and NESTRANS, by calling off under the framework agreement.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to note the content of the report concerning the process of setting up the framework agreement; and

(ii)        to approve that a place in the framework agreement be awarded for the six packages of work as follows:-

·        Policy Support and Development – SIAS Limited and AECOM Limited;

·        Strategic Planning – SIAS Limited and AECOM Limited;

·        Design and Delivery – Jacobs Engineering UK Limited and AECOM Limited;

·        Traffic Signals and IT Solutions – AECOM Limited and Halcrow Group Limited;

·        Public Transport Support and Development – Jacobs Engineering UK Limited and MVA Consultancy Limited; and

·        Technical Advice on Waste Management – Halcrow Group Limited.