Decision details

Officers have permission to undertake the procurement and award of a contract for security at the Port of Ramsgate, the Ramsgate Royal Harbour and other key security requirements at TDC. The estimated value of all lots within the contract will be £436k per year over a 5 year contract (3 years with potential for 2 year extension), making a total estimated contract value of £2.180m.

Cabinet agreed the following:

1.  The key decision to award a contract with a value in excess of £250k and thought to be approximately £2.18million over a five years period, to supply security at the Port of Ramsgate, Ramsgate Royal Harbour and other key security requirements at TDC, following a procurement exercise;

2. That the Director of Environment, having sought advice from legal services, agree the final terms of any contract award and sign the contract with the successful bidder.

An Executive Decision is required because the project involves incurring expenditure anticipated to be £250,000 or above.

The Council could consider bringing security arrangements in house. However, this poses a larger risk to the Council due to the specialist nature of the work and required standards being directly managed by the Council. It is unlikely that the Council could deliver this service at the same cost as more specialist operators.

The Council could consider reducing the level of security. However, the level of security at the Port and Harbour is already at the lowest level appropriate to the security threat presented. If the Council were to reduce the level of security this would leave times when the Port and Harbour is not being covered by a guard increasing the risk of theft and anti-social behaviour.