2324-0234 Arboricultural Services Framework Agreement

The requirement
You are invited by Islington Council (the “Authority”) to tender for the Contract. The information that you need to complete this tender exercise will be found in this document and any additional documents that have been uploaded to the London Tenders Portal (“LTP”).

The Framework Agreement will run for a period of 48 months and will comprise of 4 Lots. It is estimated that the Contract will start on 17 August 2026.

Embedded documents will not be evaluated as part of your return. Please be advised that Islington Council requires specific responses to each of the questions and method statements required within the tender pack.

This Framework Agreement is being procured using the open procedure. Under the open procedure, all bidders who successfully express an interest will automatically be invited to tender.

Lots
The services contract is being divided in to lots.

The Lots that are open to tender will be described as follows:
• Planting programme (LOT 1)
• Establishment and aftercare (LOT 2)
• Cyclical maintenance (LOT 3)
• Reactive tree works (LOT 4)

Further details will be provided in the invitation to tender.

Contract period or Term of the framework agreement

The Framework will run for a period of up to 48 months.

Value of the contract or framework agreement
The estimated value of the services that may be awarded by Islington Council under the framework agreement is estimated at £10,700,000 over the 48 month duration of the framework agreement.

The council will be under no obligation to utilise the framework agreement. No guarantee is given towards volume or value of work under this framework agreement.

Award criteria
The contract(s) for individual lots will be awarded to the Most Advantageous Tender(s) (MAT) in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023.

Tenders for this framework agreement will be assessed against the following award criteria:
Quality 50 %
Social Vlaue 20%
Cost/Price 30%

Quality made up of:
1. Service Delivery: Demonstration of works completion rates within scheduled time limits. Demonstration of tree works standards. Demonstration of competence = 28%
2. Customer care / community: Data security. Communications and response procedure = 8%
3. Mobilisation/Implementation: Resource plan = 14%

Social Value made up of:
1. A commitment towards achieving ‘Net Zero’ = 2%
2. A commitment towards local employment and upskilling or training of client staff and/or residents = 8%
3. A commitment towards employing an apprentice when trigger levels are met = 6%
4. A commitment towards working with the community as directed by the tree service = 4%

Cost/Price made up of:
The cost element will be assessed by evaluating the submitted pricing schedule. Scores will be assigned to the prices by reviewing the cost of each works specification and gauging that against market value, with the lowest achievable cost being awarded the highest percentage. You must submit a completed pricing schedule in order for your tender submission to be included in the evaluation. If the cost submitted for any individual works specification is deemed by the review panel to be below achievable, then this may alter the final position of the submitted tender. As part of this process an estimated Bill of Quantities will be supplied, as the London Borough of Islington Tree Services reserves the right to use any specification at any quantity.
• The provision of a schedule of rates for tree works operations for both small and large canopy trees = 30%

Total 100%

Further details will be provided in the invitation to tender.

Procurement process
The contract will be procured using the open procedure. All organisations who successfully express an interest will automatically have access to the tender documents. Standard questions on codnitions of participation will be part of the tender response and will need to be passed before evaluation of price and quality aspects. Further details will be available in the tender documents.

How to express an interest
If you wish to apply for this contract opportunity please follow these steps:

• Register your organisation free of charge via the London Tenders Portal
• When you receive an email confirming your username and password use these to log on to the London Tenders Portal and express your interest in 2324-0234 Arboricultural Services Framework Agreement - 77310000 - Planting and maintenance services of green areas.
• Shortly after you have expressed interest, you will receive a second email containing a link to access the procurement documents.

Deadlines

The deadline for expressions of interest is: 11.59am 26 May 2026.
The deadline for submission of Tender documents is: 12 noon 26 May 2026.
Late submissions may not be accepted.

Additional information
• Islington Council and its partners are committed to work towards a ‘Fairer Islington’, for more information see www.islington.gov.uk.

• Islington Council aims to provide equality of opportunity and welcomes applicants who meet the qualitative selection criteria from black and minority ethnic communities and disabled groups.

• The council encourages all types of organisation who meet the qualitative selection criteria including Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations, Social Enterprises or not for profit enterprises and small to medium enterprises (SME) to tender.

• All questions relating to this contract should be raised via the messages section of the relevant contract on the London Tenders Portal. Please do not contact any officer of the council directly.

• As part of a commitment to transparency the council is now publishing all spend over £500 each month. This includes spend on contracts, so the successful contractor should expect details of spend against the contract to appear on the council website Council spending | Islington Council. The council is also committed to publishing tender and contract documentation after contract award stage. Commercially sensitive information will be redacted from documentation. What constitutes commercially sensitive information is a matter for the council’s sole discretion. However, tenderers will be invited to identify information they consider to be commercially sensitive in their tender return and this will be taken into account in the council forming a view.

• In accordance with the Procurement Regulations 2024, please note that for contracts with an estimated value of more than £5 million, the council will publish in the Contract Award Notice the name of each supplier that submitted a tender which was assessed for the purposes of determining the most advantageous tender and was not awarded the contract.