Awarded without open competition
Awarded without open competition. The buyer went directly to one or a few suppliers instead of advertising the contract. Procurement rules allow this only in specific cases, such as extreme urgency, when only one supplier can do the work, or for call-offs from an existing framework.
Key facts
- Buyer
- St Albans City and District Council · Regional or local authority
- Supplier
- John O'Conner (Grounds Maintenance) Ltd SME
- Value
- £4,510,000
- Procedure
- Negotiated without publication of a contract notice
- Sector
- Agricultural & horticultural services · Grounds maintenance services (CPV 77314000)
- Region
- East of England
- Official notice
- 066822-2026 on Find a Tender
- Timeline
-
- Contract date7 May 2026
- Published15 Jul 2026Published 69 days after the contract date
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…
About the supplier
John O'Conner (Grounds Maintenance) Ltd: every public contract they have won, plus their Companies House record (company 02617638).