Overview
The Council needed to undertake a competitive tender for its two main leisure centres, Sevenoaks Leisure Centre and Edenbridge Leisure Centre, so it could exit the ‘open book’ arrangement.
We therefore undertook a procurement project to assess the most suitable management solution, given the short-term nature of the current contract and investment programme.
Outcome
The tender process concluded with the successful Operator being SLM, with the contract commencing May 2025. The Council has a much-improved financial position compared to the open book contract.
Testimonial
“Lisa and the team at Max Associates have demonstrated their professionalism and expertise at every step. Through their guidance, our leisure operator contract procurement process has resulted in a positive outcome, representing good value for money for the Council and a positive offer for the community, ensuring the continuity of leisure services and improvement of facilities. Ensuring financial viability was a key part of the procurement process and with Lisa’s support, we secured a strong, credible and financially viable bid, which included an active communities offer, enabling a wider community reach, beyond the leisure facilities. As always, it has been an absolute pleasure working with Max Associates. Their insightful, supportive and partnership approach is exemplary, I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending them.”
Sarah Robson, Deputy Chief Executive
Summary of Project
The Council needed to undertake a competitive tender for its two main leisure centres, so it could exit the ‘open book’ arrangement.
We therefore undertook a procurement strategy to assess the most suitable management solution, given the short-term nature of the current contract and investment programme. The Council followed the recommendation to procure a medium-term contract for an operator to manage the existing leisure centres, until the new ones are constructed, when they would then procure a longer-term management contract.
The key outcome was to ensure the Services Specification incentivised the new Operator to drive user experience and maintain decoration and maintenance standards at the two leisure centres, whilst minimizing spend to areas which will be demolished or replaced. Therefore, it is important to ensure a pragmatic partnership would be established, so both the council and new Operator would consider suitable solutions as the buildings come to the end of their lives.
We successfully supported the Council to deliver this procurement providing technical knowledge and market experience by developing the services specification, advised on the commercial risk, particularly in relation to repairs and maintenance responsibilities, devised the evaluation matrix and supported the evaluation panels on the commercial and technical submissions, and advised on the areas of negotiation.
