Administration services

Tender description

Neighbourhood planning gives communities direct power to develop a shared vision for their neighbourhood and shape the development and growth of their local area. They are able to choose where they want new homes, shops and offices to be built, have their say on what those new buildings should look like and what infrastructure should be provided, and grant planning permission for the new buildings they want to see go ahead. MHCLG require the Contract to make available a basic level of support for every existing and prospective neighbourhood planning group in England (hereinafter referred to as ‘Customers’), and to provide further support in the form of grants and\or Technical Support to eligible Customers to help them get neighbourhood plans or neighbourhood development orders (NDOs) in place for their area. The Contract shall involve the provision of the key services below. (a) Basic support — including online resources, expert advice, and networking facilitation; (b) Grants — provision of both basic and additional grants to Customers to fund the neighbourhood planning activities; (c) Technical Support — provision of specialist, Technical Support packages to deliver specific outputs linked to Ministerial priorities on housing, design and supporting communities to establish neighbourhood planning groups in unparished areas. The Contract may also include potential Neighbourhood Development Orders (NDO) and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) pilots and other additional services as follows: (a) provision of data collection and publication of housing supply and delivery (completions) in neighbourhood planning areas; (b) provision of data collection and management services for planning related information, including access to open data and maximising the use of digital tools; (c) provision of publically accessible planning-related digital tools and mapping services; and/or (d) provision of similar Technical Support services to relevant stakeholders for the purposes of preparing Local and other statutory plans. The budget for the initial term of the Contract is 22 409 000,00 GBP incl. VAT. Where it is considered necessary to satisfy genuine, unexpected and robustly evidenced increases or changes in demand, MHCLG reserves the right to re-profile, increase or decrease annual budgets beyond the anticipated figures stated. The total value of the contract stated at II.1.7 reflects both the right to re-profile and the option to extend the initial 4-year contract term for a further year. This procurement exercise was conducted under the Light Touch Regime as set out in Regulations 74 to 76 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR).