The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS): Customer complaints service to the Warm Front scheme

UK-London: Customer services.

Preliminary Questions
   This notice is published by:
      Directive 2004/18/EC - Contracting Authority

Section I: Contracting Authority
   Title: UK-London: Customer services.
   I.1)Name, Addresses and Contact Point(s):
      Department of Energy and Climate Change
      Area 2E, 3 Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2AW, United Kingdom
      Tel. +44 3000685168, Email: fiona.tranter@decc.gsi.gov.uk, URL: www.decc.gov.uk
      Contact: Fiona Tranter, Attn: Fiona Tranter
   
   I.2)Type of the contracting authority and main activity or activities:
      Ministry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local sub-divisions

   I.3) Main activity:
      Environment

   I.4) Contract award on behalf of other contracting authorities:
      The contracting authority is purchasing on behalf of other contracting authorities: No

Section II: Object Of The Contract
   II.1)Description
      II.1.1)Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority: Customer complaints service to the Warm Front scheme      
      II.1.2)Type of contract and location of works:
         SERVICES
         
         Service Category: 1
         


         Region Codes: UK - UNITED KINGDOM         
      II.1.3)Information about a framework or a dynamic purchasing system:
         Not Provided          
      II.1.4)Short description of the contract or purchase(s):
         Customer services. Repair and maintenance services of boilers. Gas appliance maintenance services. Repair and maintenance services of central heating. This is a time limited appointment of Carillion Energy Services (CES) to provide a limited service to the Department of Energy and Climate Change to handle any complaints from existing customers under the UK Government’s Warm Front Scheme which has now closed. The Warm Front Scheme was Government’s primary tool for improving the homes of households in or at risk of fuel poverty in England. It provided a range of energy efficient heating and insulation measures to private sector households in receipt of certain income related benefits and living in properties that were poorly insulated. The scheme closed to new applicants in 2013. CES is the existing scheme manager, having been appointed in 2005, and CES’ principal responsibilities as scheme manager was to process and manage the applications and call centre and to arrange with the installer sub-contractor the installation of the relevant measures in the households of the beneficiaries of the Scheme and to provide after-care. Given the vulnerable nature of the customers, a customer complaints service is required until March 2016 or, if demand remains high, until March 2017 to ensure the effective close down of the scheme. CES’ principal tasks under its new appointment will be to investigate and resolve complaints relating to the insulation or heating measures installed by a sub-contractor prior to the closure of the scheme and, where a complaint is upheld, to ensure that the sub-contractor carries out remedial works at that sub-contractor’s (or CES’) expense.
      II.1.5)Common procurement vocabulary:
         79342300 - Customer services.
         50531100 - Repair and maintenance services of boilers.
         50531200 - Gas appliance maintenance services.
         50720000 - Repair and maintenance services of central heating.

      II.1.6)Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA):
         The contract is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA): Yes
   
   II.2)Total Final Value Of Contract(s)
      Value: 517,161.95
      Currency: GBP
      Excluding VAT: Yes

      
Section IV: Procedure
   IV.1) Type Of Procedure
      IV.1.1)Type of procedure: Award of a contract without prior publication of a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (in the cases listed in Section 2 of Annex D1, D2 or D3)
   IV.2)Award Criteria
      IV.2.1)Award criteria: The most economically advantageous tender in terms of:
               
         Criteria - Weighting
         
         Understanding the brief: Understanding what DECC requires and how risks will be identified, assessed and managed - 20
         Track record and experience: Proven track record and experience of dealing with complaints / enquiries from the Warm Front scheme - 30
         Skills and Knowledge: Technical expertise on the Warm Front scheme specifications, boilers and heating systems and insulation - 50
         
      IV.2.2)Information about electronic auction:
         An electronic auction will be used: No
   
   IV.3)Administrative Information
      IV.3.1)File reference number attributed by the contracting authority: TRN 903/10/2014         
      IV.3.2)Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract: No

Section V: Award Of Contract
      
   1: Award And Contract Value
      Contract No: Not Provided

      V.1)Date of contract award decision: Not Provided       
      V.2) Information About Offers
         Number Of Offers Received: Not Provided          
         Number Of Offers Received By Electronic Means: Not Provided       
      V.3)Name and address of economic operator in favour of whom the contract award decision has been taken:
         Carillion Plc
         Partnership House, Regent Farm Road, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 3AF, United Kingdom
         Tel. +44 1916763231, Email: david.robinson2@carillionplc.com

      V.4)Information on value of contract:
         Initial estimated total value of the contract
            Value: 517,161.95
            Currency: GBP

      V.5)Information about subcontracting:
         The contract is likely to be subcontracted: No

Section VI: Complementary Information
   VI.1)Information about European Union funds:
      The contract is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No
   
   VI.2)Additional Information:
      To view this notice, please click here:
https://www.delta-esourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html?noticeId=116340474
GO-20141127-PRO-6191738 TKR-20141127-PRO-6191737   
   VI.3.1)Body responsible for appeal procedures:
      Department of Energy and Climate Change
      Area 2E, 3 Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2AW, United Kingdom
      Tel. +44 3000685168, Email: fiona.tranter@decc.gsi.gov.uk, URL: www.decc.gov.uk
   VI.3.2)Lodging of appeals: Not Provided    
   VI.3.3)Service from which information about the lodging of appeals may be obtained:
      Not Provided
   
   VI.4)Date of dispatch of this notice: 27/11/2014
   ANNEX D
   
   Justification for the choice of the negotiated procedure without prior call for competition
      The works/goods/services can be provided only by a particular tenderer for reasons that are:
         Technical

   Other justification for the award of the contract without prior publication of the contract notice in the OJEU   
   In order to benefit from the reduced time-limit referred to above, in addition to the box(es) to be ticked above, please explain in a clear and comprehensive manner why the award of the contract without prior publication of a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union is lawful, by stating in any case the relevant facts and, as appropriate, the conclusions of law in accordance with the Articles in Directive 2004/18/EC (500 words maximum).
      The appointment of CES to provide the complaints handling service is made under Article 31(4)(a) of Directive 2004/18/EC (regulation 14(1)(d)(i) of the UK’s Public Contracts Regulations 2006) (negotiated procedure without notice). Government analysis has shown that complaints for work done under the scheme are forecast to continue for a longer period after the closure of the scheme than had been foreseen. Due to the nature of the service required, it would not be realistic for the service to be provided separately from those under the original contract without major inconvenience to DECC. This is for the following reasons. First, the complaints services are fundamentally connected with the operation of the scheme so that it would be difficult and disruptive (both for DECC and for customers) for a new contractor to take over CES’ role in complaints handling. This is particularly the case because CES holds the customers data and have detailed knowledge of the scheme and of the installations which might be the subject of the complaints. Second, CES holds performance bonds until March 2015 from each installer sub-contractor in respect of work carried out under Warm Front, which it may be necessary to draw down to fund the remedial work in the case of an upheld complaint against that installer and which we do not consider are realistic to transfer to a new contractor. Furthermore, where remedial costs for work cannot be met by the installer then these costs will be met by CES, giving CES potential financial liabilities which (under the existing contract) they have agreed to accept and which we are doubtful that it would be realistic to expect a new contractor to agree at this stage. Due to the unknown nature but declining future number of customer complaints, the contract includes a review point and a break clause in the contract in March 2015 if complaints decline to a sufficient level so that the period of extension will be kept limited. The value of the services being provided by the contractor in providing the residual complaints service is likely to be less than 1% of the value of the original contract to date.