| Ref | SHC 2019/01 |
|---|---|
| Expression of Interest closing date | 20190718 |
Invitation to Tender – Two Way Radios – St Helens Chamber
Please click here to view full ITT document
Closing Date and Time for Submissions: 18th July 2019 10.00 am
Background
The Chamber is a unique organisation, borne out of a desire by local businesses, partners and the broader community for a private-sector led organisation to contribute to the economic success of St Helens, its businesses and residents.
The Chamber currently has the following roles:
Membership – we are at heart a business membership organisation, understanding and representing the views of our Members and helping to meet their needs.
Business – we aim to improve business performance by delivering a range of business support which includes intelligence, networking, grant support, winning new business and exporting.
Enterprise – we aim to inspire the entrepreneurs of tomorrow by bringing businesses and schools closer together and we deliver an effective business start-up programme for anyone wishing to set up a new business.
Employment – through our employment arm, Starting Point, we offer help and support to unemployed people to get back into work, and offer help to employers to recruit staff.
Training – we help to develop the workforce to its full potential by providing bespoke training solutions meeting employers’ needs, many of which are free of charge or subsidised.
Our success was recognised by the award of “Chamber of the Year 2016” at the British Chambers of Commerce National awards. We also won this award in 2007 and 2010 – making us the only Chamber to win three times. We are accredited to Investors in People Gold Standard and in 2017 we were awarded the Queens Award for Enterprise. We are rated “Good” by Ofsted, with “Outstanding” for the personal development, behaviour + welfare support we provide for our students.
St Helens Chamber is a successful business support, training and employment organisation, operating as a private sector, not-for-profit business. The Chamber has an approximate annual turnover of £5m and a staff of 105. Our real strength is that we have moved beyond the typical ‘Chamber of Commerce’ model, and have recognised the role that the private sector can play in the broader community. Our core mission is “To support our Members and the community to enhance the economic success of St Helens businesses and people”.
St Helens Chamber, working with our partners, seeks to address issues of criminal and antisocial behaviour that affect our business community. As part of a Business Crime Reduction Partnership in 2006 St Helens Chamber established a Town Centre Shop and Pub Watch radio scheme. St Helens Chamber continues to take on the responsibility for managing this scheme.
Current Shop and Pub Watch System and Scheme
Over 80 businesses belong to the radio scheme.
We supply several two way radios to Merseyside police.Operationally the radio link is maintained from a central hub in the Council run CCTV centre.
St Helens Chamber rents the infrastructure required to link the radio system consisting of an antenna (Fourstack UHF) on the roof of the CCTV centre linked to a SLR5500 Repeater.
St Helens Chamber owns the required Technically Assign Licence to operate the channels from Ofcom.
Our current radio supplier provides Motorola SL1600 radio handsets and a number of Motorola DP4400 on a monthly rental basis.
The software for our current system is Trbonet.
Our current radio supplier provides a 24 hour S.L.A maintenance contract for all those handsets.
Specification and Scope
Our current contract with our existing two way radio supplier comes to an end on 30th September 2019. St Helens Chamber is now looking for a best value solution to maintain our shop and pub watch radio scheme and invite communications companies to specify a solution for us.
We are looking to appoint a communications company to help provide a solution for up to three years. The Contract will be reviewed annually for satisfaction and viability and can be terminated if seen as failing by shop/pub watch members on either count.
The commencement of the Contract will be the 1st October 2019 with a negotiated one week changeover from our existing supplier prior to this date.
The current system has worked well for us and the radios themselves have been robust, user friendly and generally fit for purpose. Some of our Members have bought the radios from our current supplier via the Chamber and we would like these radios to be compatible with any new system if possible.
At this time best value is particularly important to us and we believe that:
All handheld radios will be rented on a twelve month basis.
Defective radios will require a replacement whilst the defective radio is being repaired.
Any defective equipment should be attended to within two working days.
Payments for the hired radios will be made monthly with one month in arrears.
St Helens Chamber will be invoiced for the cost of hired radios.
The evaluation criteria for Tenders will be as follows:
- Cost and Value for money of solution offered
- Knowledge and experience of delivering relevant products and services (including client testimonials)
- Capability and capacity to deliver the specification, including qualification, memberships and accreditations
- Chamber membership and location to St Helens
- Ease of use of equipment
- Testimonials
All Tenders will be evaluated on the basis of the “most economically advantageous tender”.
The Chamber is not bound to accept the lowest priced (or indeed any) Tender, and reserves the right to accept all or any part of a Tender.
Evaluation Criteria & Weightings – please see full ITT document
Short-listed tenderers may be invited to make a presentation based on their tender submission. The presentation will be scored with a maximum of 100 marks and the highest scoring bidder will be awarded the contract.
Structure of Proposal
The proposal must be structured as follows:
- Introduction/covering letter
- Response to tender – section 3.2
- Sub-Contracting Arrangements – section 3.3
- Completed Form of Tender – section 3.4
- Pricing – section 3.5
- Tenderers must ensure that their Tender response is submitted in the format described in this document.
- All tenders must be complete and offer the most economically advantageous bid available to the Chamber.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Where a conflict of interest exists or may arise, then it shall be the responsibility of the Tenderer to inform the Chamber, detailing the conflict in writing as an attachment to this tender. The Chamber will be the final arbiter in cases of potential conflicts of interest. Failure to notify the Chamber of any potential conflict of interest will invalidate any verbal or written agreement.
Response to Tender
Where tenderers are submitting more than one solution to the Chamber, please ensure that a hard copy submission for each solution is made. For example if you are proposing 1 solution please send one hard copy proposal. If you are bidding for three solutions then please send 3 hard copy proposals.
Where responses are not offered or further information referred to (e.g. an appendix attachment) is missing, an evaluation rating of zero will be recorded.
Please provide no more than half an A4 page of narrative per question (font size 11) in response to questions a) to i) below – unless indicated otherwise in the question. However, you may provide any additional supporting information (e.g. Policy statements, Quality documentation etc.) in an Appendix.
Please provide details of the professional or trade bodies to which your organisation belongs to and technical accreditations/certifications where appropriate.
Please describe in detail the solution you propose for radios and base stations.
Please describe your organisation’s previous experience of providing services similar to those required by the Chamber; and provide two detailed examples of previous work of this similar provision, including Client testimonials regarding the quality of service provided. Please note that the Chamber may contact the companies who provide their testimonials.
Please indicate how your organisation manages communication – both internal and external – to ensure the Chamber will benefit from new initiatives, legislative changes, best practice, etc.
The Chamber invites Tenderers to define their expectations of the role and responsibilities of the Chamber in the proposed contract, and their expected resource demands on the Chamber.
The Chamber invites Tenderers to comment on any innovative aspects that they will be capable of offering including arrangements for ancillary equipment such as radio harnesses, pouches, ear pieces, chargers, radio holders, etc.
Tenderers must give details of all key personnel they propose to involve in the delivery of this contract (including any sub-contractors listed in section 3.3) and provide a profile of their specialty and experience.
Please describe how you will manage the service on a day to day basis including replacement and repairs of radios.
The Chamber invites Tenderers to comment on what sets their company apart from others.
Sub-Contracting Arrangements – please see full ITT document
Form of Tender – please see full ITT document
Pricing
- Please set out the charges for the service you propose
- All Tenders will be evaluated on the basis of the “most economically advantageous tender”
- The Chamber is not bound to accept the lowest priced (or indeed any) Tender, and reserves the right to accept all or any part of a Tender.
Notes
All prices quoted shall be based on the current market conditions and will be expected to be upheld for the duration of the contract should the tenderer be successful and asked to complete any of the above work.
All prices quoted shall be deemed to comply with all Tenderer obligations under this Contract, whether expressly stated or reasonably implied.
No quantity or continuity of work is guaranteed to the successful Tenderer.
All prices quoted shall be exclusive of Value Added Tax (VAT)
TENDER REF: SHC 2019/01
CLOSING DATE AND TIME: 10am Thursday 18th July 2019
Please read full ITT document for submission details and all other information.
