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PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITY

Deed of Variation of John O'Conner Grounds Maintenance Contract

St Albans City and District Council · award, contract

Tender information last checkedLast checked 27 Sept 2026, 00:32.

Opportunity overview

St Albans City and District Council (the Authority) intends to enter into a deed of variation with John O'Conner (Grounds Maintenance) Ltd (the Contractor) in relation to extending the Grounds Maintenance contract with John O'Conner (JOC) until 2031.

Awarded to

Amounts belong to published awards or contracts. Where several suppliers share one value, it is labelled as shared and is not a supplier-specific allocation.

John O'Conner (Grounds Maintenance) Ltd

Matched by number
Contract value
£4.5m
Awarded
Not supplied
Contract signed
6 May 2026
Award ID
066822-2026-1
Status
active
Identifier
GB-COH 02617638
Location
Welwyn, UKH23, United Kingdom

Classification

  • CPV77314000 — Grounds maintenance services

Lots

  • St Albans City and District Council (the Authority) intends to enter into a deed of variation with John O'Conner (Grounds Maintenance) Ltd (the Contractor) in relation to extending the Grounds Maintenance contract with John O'Conner (JOC) until 2031. The Council had regard for the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (PCR) and the provisions within Regulation 72. The Council relied on Regulation 72 of the 2015 Public Contract Regulations before making the decision to extend the contract. The reasons why the contract needed to be extended was: • The option to extend the agreement by one year, does not allow for the changes that will be forthcoming as a result of the Local Government Reorganisation. A one-year extension will mean that the contract would end in March 2029, within the first year of the new unitary organisation. The new unitary will need to procure the contract and they would not have the time available to undertake this work within their first year. A typical contract of this scale requires an 18 month to 2-year procurement timeframe. The Officers and Councillors of the new unitary would also wish to ensure any new contract is in line with the geography and strategy of the new authority. • If we began a procurement exercise in summer 2026, the procurement would be caught up in the transition work required by LGR and the government statutory changes order, making this impractical with the risk that the contract would expire just prior to the new unitary being established.Value not stated

Published notice details

Additional information from the published procurement release. Fields appear only when supplied by the source; check the original notice and tender documents before acting.

Scope, procedure and submissions

Id
ocds-h6vhtk-06cc0b
Status
complete
Main Procurement Category
services
Procurement Method
limited
Procurement Method Details
Negotiated without publication of a contract notice
Why this procedure was chosen
If we began a procurement exercise in summer 2026, the procurement would be caught up in the transition work required by LGR and the government statutory changes order, making this impractical with the risk that the contract expired just prior to the new unitary being established. Agreeing to extend the contract now ensures that the St Albans Officer resource who understand the current contract and the geography of the place are able to complete the work to extend the contract. Having a shorter extension period, could result in a tendering process being required whilst the new council is being created and/or is evaluating its options for service delivery. Shorter extension may not achieve the economy of scale and potential savings for the Council. The Procurement would cost a considerable amount of money and take a significant amount of officer time, with a difficult risk profile for both the client and contractor at this time. This is not a good time to procure given the uncertainty of LGR. It is important to enable service continuity, flexibility and alignment of contracts across the County. It is the best use of time and resource to undertake any tendering process once St Albans District Council is part of the new larger unitary council, rather than in the run up to Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), or when the new council is in its infancy. Extending to 2031 beyond the current maximum extension of 2029, ensures a consistent service whilst allowing the new council to look at all the Public Realm services across the new geographical area, to achieve efficiencies and get best value for money by aligning these services at that time.

Legal basis

Id
32014L0024
Scheme
CELEX

Classification

Scheme
CPV
Id
77314000
Description
Grounds maintenance services

Procedure reasons

Entry 1
Scheme
TED_PT_AWARD_CONTRACT_WITHOUT_CALL
Id
D_EXTREME_URGENCY
Description
Extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable for the contracting authority/entity and in accordance with the strict conditions stated in the directive

Lots and requirements

Entry 1
Id
1
Description
St Albans City and District Council (the Authority) intends to enter into a deed of variation with John O'Conner (Grounds Maintenance) Ltd (the Contractor) in relation to extending the Grounds Maintenance contract with John O'Conner (JOC) until 2031. The Council had regard for the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (PCR) and the provisions within Regulation 72. The Council relied on Regulation 72 of the 2015 Public Contract Regulations before making the decision to extend the contract. The reasons why the contract needed to be extended was: • The option to extend the agreement by one year, does not allow for the changes that will be forthcoming as a result of the Local Government Reorganisation. A one-year extension will mean that the contract would end in March 2029, within the first year of the new unitary organisation. The new unitary will need to procure the contract and they would not have the time available to undertake this work within their first year. A typical contract of this scale requires an 18 month to 2-year procurement timeframe. The Officers and Councillors of the new unitary would also wish to ensure any new contract is in line with the geography and strategy of the new authority. • If we began a procurement exercise in summer 2026, the procurement would be caught up in the transition work required by LGR and the government statutory changes order, making this impractical with the risk that the contract would expire just prior to the new unitary being established.
Has Options
No

Items and delivery

Item 1
Id
1
Related Lot
1

Delivery locations

Entry 1
Region
UKH23

Buyer, suppliers and contacts

Organisation 1
Name
St Albans City and District Council
Id
GB-FTS-177118

Identifier

Legal Name
St Albans City and District Council
No Identifier Rationale
notOnAnyRegister

Address

Street Address
Civic Centre, St Peter's Street
Locality
St Albans
Region
UKH23
Postal Code
AL13JE
Country Name
United Kingdom

Contact

Name
Nicholas Baxter
Telephone
+44 1727819306

Roles

buyer

Details

Classifications

Entry 1
Scheme
TED_CA_TYPE
Id
REGIONAL_AGENCY
Description
Regional or local agency/office
Entry 2
Scheme
COFOG
Id
01
Description
General public services
Organisation 2
Name
John O'Conner (Grounds Maintenance) Ltd
Id
GB-COH-02617638

Identifier

Legal Name
John O'Conner (Grounds Maintenance) Ltd
Id
02617638
Scheme
GB-COH

Address

Locality
Welwyn
Region
UKH23
Country Name
United Kingdom

Roles

supplier

Details

Scale
large
Organisation 3
Name
None
Id
GB-FTS-8667

Identifier

Legal Name
None

Address

Locality
None
Country Name
United Kingdom

Roles

reviewBody

Award information

Award 1
Id
066822-2026-1
Status
active

Related lots

1

Suppliers

Supplier 1
Id
GB-COH-02617638
Name
John O'Conner (Grounds Maintenance) Ltd

Contracts and changes

Entry 1
Id
066822-2026-1
Award ID
066822-2026-1
Status
active
Date Signed
7 May 2026, 00:00

Value

Amount
4,510,000
Currency
GBP

Recorded locations

  • Buyer location · St Albans · UKH23 · AL13JE · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKH23

Notice and amendment history

1 published notice version reviewed by ProcuraAxis.

1 VERSION
  1. 066822-2026award, contract ·