Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2021-02-03
Buyer: Portsmouth City Council
Country: UK
Contract type: Supplies
Procedure: Contract award without prior publication
CPV classification: 38551000 | 38554000 | 45310000 | 50411300 | 65500000
Estimated value: 70000 GBP

Technical requirements: In the interests of transparency Portsmouth City Council — the 'Council' — is issuing this V.E.A.T. notice pursuant to an expansion of scope in terms of both volume and associated value of an OJEU advertised contract for the provision of automated meter reading (AMR) meters and associated data collection services.
As per the published contract notice (2015/S 249-453314) and subsequent contract award notice (2016/S 190-340574) the contract commenced on 31 May 2016 for an initial term of 3 years and thereafter is renewed on an annual, rolling basis. The estimated per annum value stated within the contract notice was GBP 18 500 and GBP 19 321 within the contract award notice based upon demand at point of publication.
In accordance with the options stated within the notices and procurement documentation accessible at point of publication the Council has significantly expanded the scope of the contract to meet demand resulting in an increase in spend per annum to approx. GBP 70 000.
The Council may use the contract for the provision of AMR meters and associated data collection services across the entirety of its current and future property portfolio.
In the interests of transparency Portsmouth City Council — the 'Council' — is issuing this V.E.A.T. notice pursuant to an expansion of scope in terms of both volume and associated value of an OJEU advertised contract for the provision of automated meter reading (AMR) meters and associated data collection services.
As per the published contract notice (2015/S 249-453314) and subsequent contract award notice (2016/S 190-340574) the contract commenced on 31 May 2016 for an initial term of 3 years and is thereafter renewed on an annual, rolling basis. The estimated per annum value stated within the contract notice at point of advertisement was GBP 18 500 and GBP 19 321 within the subsequent contract award notice based upon demand at point of publication.
In order to accommodate increased demand through roll out of AMR meters across the Council's growing property portfolio and upgrading the following options were included within both the contract notice and contract award notice:
'The Council reserves the right at any time to review its use of AMR meters and may add, remove or upgrade AMR meters throughout the duration of the contract.'
Pursuant to these options the Council has subsequently significantly expanded the rollout of AMR meters across its property portfolio, resulting in an increase in spend per annum to approx. GBP 70 000.
Due to the expansion options included and the contract being let on a rolling basis subject to annual renewal, it is not possible to provide a definitive upper term or value. Therefore the current per annum value rather than a total cumulative value has been entered within Sections II.1.7) and V.2.4).
As per the contract notice and contract award notice the Council may at any time review its use of AMR meters and may add, remove or upgrade AMR meters throughout the duration of the contract. As per the notices the contract commenced on 31 May 2016 for an initial term of 3 years which can thereafter be renewed at the sole discretion of the Council on an annual rolling basis.
The Council considers that the expansion of this contract without publication of a further contract notice is lawful by virtue of inclusion of the following options with the contact notice (2015/S 249-453314) and subsequent contract award notice (2016/S 190-340574) previously published to cover the establishment of the original contract:
'The Council reserves the right at any time to review its use of AMR meters and may add, remove or upgrade AMR meters throughout the duration of the contract.'
Whilst the current value of the contract of GBP 70 000 per annum represents a significant increase from the estimated value of GBP 18 500 stated within the contract notice and GBP 19 321 stated within the subsequent contract award notice it was made explicit within the notices that these figures were based upon the requirements which were current at point of publication and as such were clearly not intended to act as an overall cumulative value cap for the contract over its term.
On this basis the Council considers that the increase in scope to the contract is lawful and in accordance with the provisions set out within Regulations 72 (1) (a) and 72 (1) (e) of the Public Contracts Regulations (2015).


Winner: Stark Software International Ltd
Award value: 70000