Agricultural, forestry, horticultural, aquacultural and apicultural services

Tender description

Kent County Council (the Council) is the largest county council in England, covering an area of 3 500 square kilometres. It has an annual expenditure of over GBP 900 000 000 on goods and services and a population of 1 300 000. The Council provides a wide range of personal and strategic services on behalf of its residents, operating in partnership with 12 district councils and 305 parish and town councils. The Council is responsible for maintaining over 8 700 km of carriageways and 6 300 km of footways across the County. This service requirement is for the programmed maintenance of the highways soft landscape asset with flexibility for additional ad-hoc provision and will include the following: — the mowing or cutting of verges and roundabouts — the cutting and maintenance of shrub and rose borders and — The cutting and maintenance of hedges. Work types will be maintained at the following minimum frequencies: — urban grass – 6 cuts per year — shrub beds – once per year — roses – 3 times per year — hedges – Once per year. The Council wishes to engage with the market to gain their insights and experience in this field. Consideration is being given to evaluate a commercial strategy which will lot the districts into appropriate quantum of work. The contract has been awarded to one contractor but is currently divided into three lots as below: — Lot 1 (West): Dartford, Gravesham and Sevenoaks. — Lot 2 (Mid):Maidstone, Tonbridge and Malling, Tunbridge Wells. — Lot 3 (East): Canterbury, Swale and Thanet. This opportunity will primarily service KCC HT&W owned assets. There may also be the need to carry out works on privately owned assets in order to ensure highway safety. This type of work has the potential to be re-charged through existing KCC processes. There may be future interest from district and parish providers within Kent to gain access to this contract. The level of interest is unquantified at this point in time. Any future approaches will be considered as and when they arise. The contract will be structured so as not to limit any such flexibility. Contractors who wish to express an interest (EOI) must do so via the opportunity listed on the Kent Business Portal. The Council will use this engagement to inform interested suppliers of our progress and may also ask for feedback on potential proposals as they develop. Organisations who do not express an interest in response to this PIN will not be precluded from applying to take part in the Council's chosen procurement strategy and conclusion of our engagement findings will be shared with the published call or calls for competition.