Tender for the provisioning of a Leisure Centre Operator

Southend-on-Sea City Council (the Council) are seeking electronic tender responses as part of a competitive procurement process, to appoint an Operator to run a number of the leisure centres around the city.

The leisure centres and all they offer, provide an integral part of our cultural offer. They play an important role across the city, through the provision of physical activities, relaxation, and stimulation of the mind. All this helps make the city an attractive place to be.

Through the running of the leisure centres, the Council is looking to work in partnership with the Operator to support the delivery of the Council's policies and objectives for leisure services, focussing on:

• Improving the health of residents, by encouraging and providing opportunities to be more active, more often;

• Tackling inactivity in priority groups and areas; and

• Ensuring that the people of the city receive, and can access, quality services, which meet their needs at affordable prices.

The Operator will be required to work in partnership with local schools, clubs, and voluntary organisations to use sport and physical activity to improve health and wellbeing across the city.

The Council will not be prescriptive about the programmes and methods of service delivery used by the Operator and recognises the need for both parties to be flexible and creative.

This is an excellent opportunity to work in partnership for the benefit of all parties, with a focus on the community. The Operator will be empowered to maximise income by increasing usage directly by providing customers with the required service at a fair price.

The organisation appointed as the Operator, will gain valuable knowledge on the services provided within the leisure centres and the importance of the leisure centres to the city, during an important time of change for the county.

All requirements and detail relating to the proposed Contract such as reporting, legislative compliance, record keeping, data protection, social value and contract management are covered as part of the Tender Documents.

The Minimum Level Requirements of the procurement process are covered in detail in the Tender Documents provided. This includes, but is not limited to, the TUPE NDA, CIMSPA membership or equivalent, the clarification request process, the required documentation to be submitted for a compliant tender response, minimum score requirements, levels of insurance and all other mandatory selection and award requirements.

All elements relating to the evaluation methodology, including all aspects which are "scored" or "pass / fail", are explained within the documentation provided as part of the procurement process.

The Tender Documents can be accessed via:

https://procurement.southend.gov.uk/southend/portal.nsf/index.htm

The deadline for receipt of clarification requests relating to the Tender Documents is: 14:00 Friday 21st March 2025

The deadline for submission of tender responses is: 14:00 Wednesday 2nd April 2025

The proposed related contract is 3 years from the Service Transfer Date (01/07/2025), with an additional number of weeks added to this 3-year period. These additional weeks will be designated as the lead in period.