Provision of an Ecological Data Centre

Descriptions

Section 41 - Direct Award in Special Cases. The following justification applies.

Schedule 5, Paragraph 5, Single Suppliers:

The following conditions are met in relation to the public contract:

(a)due to a particular supplier having intellectual property rights or other exclusive rights, only that supplier can supply the goods, services or works required, and

(b)there are no reasonable alternatives to those goods, services or works.

The supplier is not an excluded supplier or excludable supplier.

North Yorkshire Council requires access to accurate contemporary ecological data and GIS support to assist in delivering the following statutory and legislative duties:

- Production of a new Local Plan;

- Provision of ecological support to planning applications

- Duties related to the Environmental Information Regulations;

- Duties related to the Environmental Act 2021;

- Maintenance of accurate data in relation to Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs);

- Compiling the statutory Single Data List (160-01) annual return;

Market engagement has been undertaken and identified no other suppliers that are currently able to provide the required services. The Supplier is one of the Local Environmental Records Centres (LERC), which are not-for-profit organisations that collect, collate and manage information on the natural environment for a defined geographic area. Each record centre is the sole provider for this ecological data in that region. On average 70% of species records maintained at LERCs come from the voluntary sector, and as such they provide a critical link between data collectors and those using the data, including both Local Planning Authorities in undertaking their statutory duties, and the private sector in undertaking ecological assessments for their clients.

The Supplier either owns, or are custodians of, the single most extensive collection of ecological data for North Yorkshire. Where it is not their ownership, they have the owners' express permission to hold, manage and disseminate the data under licence and in accordance with National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Data Exchange Principles. No other supplier has access to this amount or ecological information for this region, and no other supplier is currently offering any similar service.

In order for NYC to deliver the Local Plan, there needs to be a consistent supplier of ecological data to ensure the plan is robust and based upon a consistently applied set of data principles / understanding.

Risks:

(s) a description identifying any risk that- (i) the contracting authority considers- (aa) could jeopardise the satisfactory performance of the contract, but (bb) because of its nature, may not be addressed in the contract as awarded, and (ii) may require a subsequent modification to the contract under paragraph 5 of Schedule 8 to the PA 2023 (modification of contract following materialisation of a known risk),