Harrogate Borough Council is set to award two decarbonisation contracts worth £2.4 million to companies outside the district and without open tender.
The projects aim to cut carbon emissions at the Harrogate Hydro leisure centre and Harrogate Convention Centre.
Funding for the schemes was secured from the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.
Reports to senior councillors recommend awarding the contracts to Alliance Leisure, based in Somerset, and Engie Regeneration Ltd, which has registered offices in Newcastle.
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Projects to cut carbon emissions
Harrogate Hydro, which opened in 1999, will replace its gas boilers with air source heat pumps, install solar panels on the roof and put in place new energy monitoring and control system.
The £1.8 million contract for the works is recommended by council officers to be handed to Alliance Leisure, which was also hired as development managers for the council’s wider £26 million leisure investment.
A council report said the appointment was made in line with the UK Leisure Framework, which is a framework developed in accordance with EU procurement regulations that enables public sector organisations to directly appoint Alliance Leisure for leisure centre projects.
The report says the direct appointment of the company is “fully compliant” with procurement rules and provides “a faster and more efficient procurement route”.
Meanwhile, the HCC received £583,914 to convert its lighting to LEDs, install solar panels and heat pumps and introduce variable speed drives to control the fans and pipework insulation.
Engie Regeneration Ltd, which is part of Engie Group and specialises in refurbishment of public buildings, is set to be awarded the contract for the works.
A £500,000 project is planned to decarbonise Harrogate Convention Centre.
Council officers said in a report that Engie had already gone through a competitive tender process within the procurement framework it has used.
It added that the direct award would mean the council could deliver the scheme “within the tight timescales set out in the grant conditions”.
Both schemes form part of the borough council’s goal to reach a net-zero carbon economy by 2038.
The authority hopes the improvements will cut emissions by 577 tonnes a year at the Hydro and 70 tonnes at the convention centre.
No open tender process
The contracts are to be the latest to be awarded without an open competitive tender process.
The council has been criticised previously for not working with local firms, including when it appointed Ipswich firm Jacob Bailey last year to redevelop its tourism website Visit Harrogate without a competitive tender process.
Other contracts awarded without tender include:
- A £1.1m contract to Dutch firm Arcadis to design the first phase of the £47 million redevelopment of Harrogate Convention Centre
- A £40,926.29 to Glendale Services, based in Lancashire, to restore the West Park Stray following the UCI World Cycling Championships.
- Alliance Leisure being appointed development manager for £26 million investment in leisure services, including a new facility in Knaresborough.
In cabinet papers due before councillors next week, council officers said a full tendering process could take up to six months.
It added that the grant conditions for the decarbonisation projects state that the programmes must be completed by September 2021.
The report said:
“To run a full open tendering procurement process would not allow us to meet the tight grant condition timescales, and the council could potentially lose the funding and or be obliged to repay the grant funding in part or in full.”
Senior councillors on the council’s cabinet will make a decision on the contracts on March 31.
