Contract award
Dacorum names an HVAC contractor after twelve bids reached final stage
By Staff Writer | 05-09-2026
Dacorum Borough Council has named Sureserve Compliance Central Limited for its commercial heating, ventilation and air conditioning services contract at 9,000,000 pounds excluding value added tax. Twelve bidders reached the final stage and all twelve were recorded as valid. The award is marked pending, the standstill period ends on 15 September 2026 and signature is scheduled for the following day.
What the contract covers
Commercial HVAC services contract covering statutory compliance, planned and reactive maintenance, and associated repairs across the Council's non-domestic estate. The scope includes heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and associated plant, together with performance management, reporting and contract management requirements, as set out in the tender documentation.
Dacorum Borough Council, contract award notice
Three strands of work sit inside the one lot. The first is statutory compliance, which is the inspection, testing and certification the council must hold to occupy and operate its buildings. The second is planned and reactive maintenance of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and the plant serving them. The third is associated repairs, which sits alongside maintenance rather than inside it on the wording of the notice.
Performance management, reporting and contract management are named as requirements in their own right and not as incidents of the maintenance obligation. The notice puts the detail of all of them in the tender documentation, which is not published on the record.
The classification codes run from heating equipment, boiler installations and cooling and ventilation equipment through to heating works and air conditioning installation work, then to repair and maintenance of mechanical building installations, of central heating and of cooler groups. The award is categorised as works rather than services.
Twelve bids and nine from smaller firms
The record carries bid statistics for the single lot. Twelve bids were received, twelve reached the final stage, nine of those came from small or medium sized enterprises and none came from a voluntary, community or social enterprise. Every one of the twelve is recorded with the status valid, so none was set aside as non compliant or abnormally low.
The eleven unsuccessful tenderers are named on the record, with registered addresses in Harrow, Norfolk, Hemel Hempstead, Wickford, Salford, Whyteleafe, Potters Bar, Liverpool and Atherton. Two of them are registered in Hemel Hempstead, where the council itself sits. The successful tenderer is registered in London and is recorded as a large organisation rather than a small or medium sized one.
The procurement method is recorded as open and the method detail as competitive flexible procedure. The legal basis given is the Procurement Act 2023, and the award is marked as above threshold.
Term, extension, value and the run to signature
The contract period runs from 1 November 2026 to 13 October 2031. The maximum extent date is 31 October 2036. On those figures the initial term is a little under five years, ending eighteen days short of the fifth anniversary of the start, and the extension carries the arrangement out to ten years from the start date.
The contract may be extended for a further period of up to five years, subject to satisfactory contractor performance, continued value for money, service requirements and the necessary Council governance approvals.
Dacorum Borough Council, contract award notice
Four conditions are attached to the extension and they are cumulative on the wording: performance, value for money, service requirements and internal approvals. The notice does not say who decides whether each is satisfied, when the decision falls to be taken, or what happens to the arrangement if one of the four is not met.
The award value is 9,000,000 pounds excluding value added tax. The record also carries a gross figure of 10,800,000 pounds, which is 1.2 times the net. No division of either figure across the term is published, so the annual run rate cannot be taken from the notice.
Assessment summaries were sent on 4 September 2026 and the notice was published at 5:35pm the same day. The standstill period ends at 11:59pm on 15 September 2026 and the scheduled signature date is 16 September 2026. Until then the award status on the record remains pending.
The notice does not state how many buildings are in the non-domestic estate, how the estate is spread across the borough, or what plant is currently installed. It does not publish the evaluation split between price and quality, the scores, or the range of tendered prices. It does not say whether the extension may be taken in one period or in shorter steps, why the initial term ends on 13 October rather than 31 October, or what happens to the compliance records at handover. It gives no incumbent and no contract number for the arrangement being replaced.