Agenda item

Contracts Update

Meeting of Strategic Policy and Resources Committee, Friday, 22nd August, 2025 9.30 am (Item 6a)

Minutes:

The Committee:

· approved the public advertisement of tenders as per Standing Order 37a detailed in Appendix 1 (Table 1);

· approved the modification of the contract as per Standing Order 37a detailed in Appendix 1 (Table 3); and

· noted the award of retrospective STAs in line with Standing Order 55 exceptions as detailed in Appendix 1 (Table 2):

Table 1: Competitive Tenders

Title of Tender	Proposed Contract Duration	Est. Max Contract Value	SRO	Short description of goods / services
Booking system for cemeteries and crematorium including user licences, Funeral Director portal, Sculptor portal, finance integration, daily csv file extraction	Up to 4 years	£156,000	S McNicholl	License support and maintenance for Plotbox Bereavement Services Management System
Electric upgrade projects	Up to 5 years	£1,500,000	S Grimes	New MTC contract to provide emergency call outs, reactive & response maintenance works & provide call off facility for electrical contractor to carry out planned projects
Electric Gates, Barriers & Bollards maintenance and small works	Up to 5 years	£300,000	S Grimes	Recurring contract which covers callouts, repairs, planned maintenance and small works to electric gates, barriers & bollards systems to all Council properties
Lease of 2x 18T- RCV 4x2 x 18T narrow track 0L10N Electric Bin Lift	Up to 4 months	£35,000	S Leonard	The current lease for the hire of 2 x 18T RCVs contract (T2614) expires on 31/03/26 with no option to renew. A new 4- month interim hire contract required from April 2026 to July 2026 to allow for the continuation of services until the arrival of 2 x 18T RCV vehicles which have been purchased are not due to be delivered until August 2026.
Collection of environmental water and sediment samples at North Foreshore Site	Up to 3 years	£160,000	S Grimes	The samples are required to be taken, analysed and reported to DAERA / NIEA in accordance with the relevant provisions of The Waste and Contaminated Land (NI) Order 1997.
Belfast WiFi Service	Up to 5 years	£165,000	S McNicholl	The Belfast WiFi service is required to deliver public WiFi services across over 100 council sites as well as external city centre locations.
Management and delivery of a Belfast Citywide Appeals Service	Up to 4.5 years	£1,215,000	D Sales	Provision of a shared and centralised appeals service, creating a dedicated and specialised service which could efficiently meet the wide range of need for appeals, across the communities of Belfast.
Implementation of a new Service Desk Management solution with Asset Management	Up to 4 years	£380,000	S McNicholl	Replacement of the current inhouse legacy CRM Service Desk system and Asset Management system that is approaching end of life.
Public services hub project delivery	Up to 15 months	£650,000	M McCann	Belfast 5G Innovation Region is a DSIT-funded programme that requires Belfast City Council, on behalf of Belfast Region, to deliver economic benefits in key industries. A public services hub will be delivered on behalf of Belfast City Council as part of this programme. Approved April 2025 for 11 months. Duration has now been updated.

Table 2: Retrospective Single Tender Actions

Title of Contract	Duration	Est. Max Contract Value	SRO	Description	Supplier	STA Reason
Fleadh Cheoil Belfast 2026 Volunteer Services	Up to 8 months	£55,610	D Martin	Volunteer Now is the only organisation in NI with experience and capacity of co-ordinating and managing a complex, high profile, volunteering programme of the scale of the Fleadh.	Volunteer Now	3

Table 3: Contract Modifications

Title of Contract

Original Contract Duration

Modification

SRO

Description

Supplier

T1974 – Security Guarding Services

Lot 1 – Manned security guarding

Lot 2 – Event stewarding

Lot 4 – Keyholding

Lot 5 – Mobile Patrol

Up to 4 years

Additional 1 months and £110k

N Largey

An additional 1-month extension of contract to help facilitate the evaluation and award of the new tender and ensure continuity of services including a smooth transition of any new service provider i.e. time for TUPE consultations and transfer.

Large number of tender bids received as part of the re-tender exercise which is resulting in the evaluation taking longer to complete. Evaluation and award scheduled to be complete by end of August 25 but a 2-month handover period needs to be allowed for to allow for a potential transfer to a new service provider.

Cobra Security Services (Lots 1, 4 & 5)

Eventsec (Lot 2)

Review and development of additional H&S processes at Belfast Zoo

Up to 6 months

Additional 6 months and £15,000

D Martin

An extension to the current contract is required due to additional H&S requirements being generated following a HSENI investigation at the Zoo.

Being reported as STA as value now exceeds £30k.

Health and Safety Risk Management Consultancy Service

Supporting documents: