To approve the award of the contract for the provision of the CCTV/Security Monitoring Staffing Contract following a competitive tender exercise.

An open tender was issued in compliance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and the council’s Contract Procedure Rules. A preferred bidder has been identified through a compliant evaluation process.  All of the compliant tender responses were in excess of the anticipated budget figure for the contract and the evaluation scoring reflected this.

That:

a)    a contract be awarded for a 3 year contract with the option to extend for a further 2 years to Enigma CCTV Ltd to supply staff to monitor the council’s CCTV cameras across the county, and provide CCTV and security staff to work within the Maylord Orchard Centre for the agreed sum of £1,784,859.

1.         Do nothing. The council has an established CCTV service that covers Hereford City and the market towns of Ledbury, Leominster and Ross-on-Wye. Due to uncertainty over future revenue budget commitments from West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner, the contract has already been extended on two previous occasions and now needs to be re-procured as any further extension will result in the contract not complying with the requirements of the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

            The current contract comes to an end on 31 August 2022. Without proactive monitored public space CCTV for Herefordshire and Maylord Orchard Centre there could be an increase in undetected crime and anti-social behaviour.

2.         Not award the contract following the tender process.  This option is not recommended as it could lead to a legal challenge and result in reputation damage to the council.