The Meads, Farnborough and Further Sites - Rushmoor - Cleaning & Security Services - Preliminary Market Engagement

Descriptions

Rushmoor Borough Council (the 'council') will be re-tendering its Cleaning and Security contract in place at The Meads, Farnborough. Alongside this the Council is also considering its options for re-tendering its cleaning & security arrangements in place across a further three of its key investment assets located in Guildford, Aldershot and Frimley. The subsequent formal procurement process, which will be run as an over threshold openly advertised covered procurement, is targeted for issue in early March 2026. Prior to undertaking this process, the Council is keen to engage with the market to gain feedback & insight via a formal Preliminary Market Engagement process that will help inform its final technical, commercial, contracting and procurement strategy. One of the Council's key considerations which will be tested through this preliminary market engagement process, is whether to procure all security & cleaning services across all sites under one contract, split contracts by service, split contracts by property asset and other potential bidding combinations. The award date for the contract/s is targeted for 16th May 2026 with commencement of services to run from 1st September 2026. The Council anticipates letting the contract/s on a 3-year base term with options to extend up to a maximum of 7 years but will be seeking views from the market on this element. The combined value of all services across all sites is currently in the region of £730,000 per annum (excluding VAT). This is broken down in more detail further in the PME brief document which is available on Rushmoor Borough Council's e-tendering solution, Procontract, a link to the site can be found here - https://procontract.due-north.com/Login. Overview of Sites, Requirements & Current Budget Levels The Council requires high-quality cleaning and security suppliers who specialise in the delivery of services at the types of commercial property under council ownership, this includes: The Meads Shopping Centre The cleaning and security contracts are currently undertaken by Kingdom Facilities Management. The cleaning contract includes the common parts of the shopping centre and toilets, offices, multi-story car park, loading bays, street cleaning, gritting and light landscaping. This diverse cleaning and security contract includes the importance of a high-quality output, whilst also interacting with members of the public and tenants during the shopping centre opening hours. Whilst also keeping it secure at closing times. The security team will be responsible for 24-hour CCTV control room monitoring, security patrols, customer service and assist with meeting H&S requirements, attending to intruder alarms and fire alarms with the possibility of leading evacuations and calling relevant services. The centre is manned 24/7 with opening hours between 07:00 - 01:00 seven days a week, with the exception of Christmas Day. Full TUPE information will be available at the tendering stage upon completion of the Non-disclosure Agreement. Union Yard The current contract is undertaken by Gurkha security. Union Yard is a newly developed shopping area in Aldershot Town Centre. The Cleaning and security requirements include all outdoor common areas within the scheme. This includes courtyards and garden area, pedestrianised streets, public realm within close proximity, landscaping, street furniture, toilet block, and underground car park. Requirements include winter gritting, litter picking and cleaning a small toilet block facility which is used by tenants only who do not have toilet facilities in their small units. There is an emphasis of this being a porter style role rather than traditional security and cleaning with regular tenant and customer interaction. The hours may be subject to change but are currently Monday - Friday 07:00 - 17:00. As commercial expectations rise, we may need to change this to include the weekends. Currently the duties are carried out by one full-time site porter whose time is split approximately as 75% cleaning and 25% security. Ashbourne House The cleaning contract is currently undertaken by Churchill Cleaning Solutions. Ashbourne house is a multi-tenanted office block. It includes cleaning the internal common parts, such as reception, stairways, lifts and common WCs. Also includes periodic cleans of hard floors and carpeted areas within the common parts and regular external cleans. The contract is based on two cleaners attending daily. Security guarding for this site is only on an ad-hoc basis, such traveller encampments into the adjoining park and ride car park. There is response security (off site). Frimley 4.4: The contract is undertaken by Mobius security and Protective Services. This is a large business unit on a multi-let estate and includes cleaning of common-part and retained areas including reception, stairways and common WCs. There is manned security and associated costs for staff specifically employed to undertake security duties onsite. Security contract includes additional items such as radio equipment and uniforms. Procurement Process and Programme Following completion of the Preliminary Market Engagement process, the Council is targeting to commence a formal procurement process following the Open Procedure via issue of a Tender Notice on 9th March 2026 with contract award to the successful Operator targeted for 16th May 2026. The contract is targeted for commencement on 1st September 2026. The Council will give the successful services providers a minimum of 3-month mobilisation period to ensure seamless service is maintained. The Council is seeking feedback from the market in relation to the proposed mobilisation period as part of this preliminary procurement engagement process. The current indicative procurement programme is set out below: Tender Notice Issued 9th March 2026 Tender Pack Issued on ProContract - 9th March 2026 Mandatory Site Tour and Bidders Briefing - 18th March 2026 Deadline for Requests for Clarification - 1st April 2026 @23:59 Tender return deadline - 10th April 2026 @12:00 Award Decision & Assessment Summaries Issued 5th May 2026 Contract Award Notice Issued 5th May 2026 Standstill Period Starts 6th May 2026 Standstill Period Ends 15th May 2026 @23:59 Contract Award - 16th May 2026 Mobilisation - 16th May - 31st August 2026 Contract Commencement - 1st September 2026 The full preliminary market engagement documentation pack can be accessed using the following link: https://procontract.due-north.com/Login

Engagement

Engagement Objectives, Feedback Process & PME Programme In undertaking this preliminary market engagement process the Council is seeking to gain feedback against a number of key considerations which will inform its subsequent adopted strategy. These considerations include for: • Combination or separation of activities by service type and / or site • Associated consideration of bidding / lotting options • Conditions of Participation including for experience, insurance, financial standing, quality standards, etc. • Procurement process, programme and high-level award criteria • Mobilisation and service establishment • Specification, scope and service levels • Budget, commercial models and variation mechanisms • Service improvement and market innovation • Contractual high-level red lines • Contract duration and extension options • Pricing models In order to obtain and consider feedback on a structured basis, the Council has developed a brief Request for Information (RFI) questionnaire for interested operators to complete and return via the Council's ProContract e-sourcing system. Responses should be provided by 10th February 2026 - 12:00 as the Council will be scheduling its consideration of responses shortly afterwards. Following review of responses, the council may seek to engage with respondents in order to better understand suggested approaches. This will likely be via issue of correspondence via ProContract but may also be via invitation to attend a brief on-line TEAMS meeting. Engagement activities are targeted to take place between Tuesday 17th and Friday 20th February. Respondents will be asked to confirm their availability and suggested dates & times for participating in a TEAMS call within their RFI responses. The summary programme that the Council will run the PME process to is set out below: PME Notice Issued 21st January 2026 PME Pack Issued on ProContract 21st January 2026 Meads Site Tour Request Deadline 28th January 2026 @14:00 Meads Site Tour 29th January @10:00 - 12:00 PME RFI Response Deadline - 10th February 2026 @12:00 The Meads PME Site Visit The council are offering an optional site visit at The Meads on Thursday 29th January from 10:00 -12:00. Tenderers who wish to attend the visit are requested to confirm the names and positions of delegates (max of 2 delegates) that they wish to send to the site visit by ProContract correspondence by 2pm on Wednesday 28th January. Delegates should arrive 15 minutes before commencement of the site tour and report to Ron Melia, Centre Manager at the business Centre Office, which is located at end of the Shopping centre, just beyond the Prezzo Restaurant. Further site visits will be allowed for at the tendering stage under the future formal procurement process, attendance at which will be mandatory requirement of bidding. Administration The RFI questionnaire, draft specification and supporting documents can be accessed via the Council's e-sourcing system ProContract. The Council use the system to administrate the preliminary market engagement process and subsequent formal procurement process, including for the following activities: • Access to and issue of preliminary market information & documentation • Pre-RFI submission clarification requests and response • RFI questionnaire submission • Access to and issue of procurement information & documentation • Pre-tender submission clarification requests and response • Tender submission • Tender opening & access to responses • Post-tender submission clarification requests and response • Award decision notification & feedback. NB: Suppliers should note that there is no obligation to take part in this exercise and that if they do not take part, it will not preclude them from any subsequent related procurement process. Engaging suppliers will not receive preferential treatment in any subsequent quotation or tender process, and this is in no way an indication of the selection of any organisation or a guarantee of future work.