KKP's experience of working with councils, trusts and private sector leisure operators is extensive and broad-ranging. With strategic and operational understanding of local authority leisure provision, our services encompass strategic planning, service improvements, business planning, opening new and re-developing existing sports facilities, plus management of sports development programmes.

As many local authorities look to secure a private contractor as a way of managing budget cuts, optimising diminishing resources and minimising liabilities, here we list just some factors that may need to be considered throughout the procurement process to maximise success and value:

1. The need for transparency about your approach

From the outset, it is important to provide potential partners with appropriate, accurate information about the current performance of, and issues facing the service. This should be packaged in an appropriate format to both provide the depth of knowledge needed and to ensure that partners appreciate what is required to meet Council/customer expectations. 

2. Be honest about gaps in knowledge and information

It is also important to be explicit about what is not presently known but what you would like to be better informed about as the process and the relationship develops.

3. Procuring in the current economic climate can be challenging, especially given the increasing number of opportunities open to private operators

Here, key to success is achieving a healthy level of interest in the contract. Councils should appreciate that they are not only presenting an offer to the private sector and established trusts, but that they are competing with other councils to do so. It is fast becoming a bidders market, therefore, there is a need to present the opportunities and wider benefits of working with your service. It is also advisable to have a clear service specification, which the industry is comfortable responding to, but is still challenging.

4. Realistic timescales result in higher quality bid submissions

It is vital that tender documents are issued on time to ensure bidders sufficient time to develop their bid. In our experience, this increases the number and quality of submissions. Enough time should also be built in to negotiate with short listed bidders to ensure that your Best and Final Offer (BAFO) is received within the agreed deadline. 

5. Bespoke tender documents, which clearly set out and detail specific priorities are much more effective than off-the-shelf sets which have been used in other settings

The key to this is not to ‘reinvent the wheel'. By all means apply frameworks and structures for the process that make sense and that have been used in other settings. However, there is a need to ensure that core detail, and the issues and objectives covered directly reflect your specific aspirations and key objectives. 

6. Facilitate unlimited access to facilities

It is important that bidders have full access to the current service to ensure that they have a complete understanding of how it operates. This will require operational staff to make themselves available as and when required.

7. Be clear about capital investment requirements

The future investment requirements for the service need to be made clear. This is not only in relation to investment in income generating elements (e.g. fitness suites, studies etc) but also to ongoing maintenance and replacement of plant and machinery and wider cosmetic aspects.

8. Clear project evaluation process

There is a need to identify the Council and partner expertise that will be utilised to evaluate the submissions (e.g. Asset Management, Legal, Finance, HR, Unions etc). This is to ensure that complex issues are dealt with by the appropriate person.

9. Mobilisation and transfer

Consideration must be given to the approach for mobilisation and smooth transfer of the service, such as TUPE, health and safety management, insurance, organisational culture etc. In our experience, lack of time allocated to this can not only adversely affect staff morale but can also have a knock-on effect on customer experience if not managed effectively.

10. Planning for the long term

Finally, contractual conditions should not only relate to the immediate operation of the service but should also demonstrate long term development and investment in service improvement. Consideration should be given to exit strategies (either at the end of the contract period or enforced) and issues which may impact upon the following contract period (e.g. transfer of staff, ownership of equipment, ownership of intellectual property and transfer of management information, etc).

If you are considering on embarking on this process and would like an informal chat to discuss how we may be able to help and support you, please do not hesitate to get in touch.