Decision details

East Sussex County Council currently has a number of roundabouts for which the Highways department is responsible for maintaining and ensuring they meet their purpose and manage traffic safely and efficiently. In recent years the Highways Department has, as elsewhere within the Council, been met with increased cost and demand, and increasing budget pressures. Responding to these challenges the Council has looked at alternative ways of maintaining these assets and reducing the cost pressure on the Council so that resources can be diverted elsewhere. Roundabout Sponsorship provides businesses with a very unique, environmentally enhancing and cost-effective way of promoting their business to tens of thousands of prospective customers – all day, every day. The scheme is designed to be cost neutral or to provide basic income to ESCC, and it is about providing extra enhancement to sites that would otherwise receive basic highways maintenance at lower frequencies

It was decided that this contract should be awarded to Keegan Ford Sponsorship Ltd t/a sponsoraroundabout.com as a result of a mini competition run via ESPO Framework (Option 1) as they submitted the most economically advantageous tender.

Option 2: Concession agreement following the Open route to market: An open tender could be run in order to invite competition from the market. This would be a lengthy process requiring significant time and resource which would be far less cost effective than calling off from an existing framework and provide no discernible additional benefits.

Option 3: Establish a Framework: This would not be feasible as it is an integrated service which requires a consistent and single provider. No additional benefits by following this approach and any perceived lack of commitment from the Council, which a framework may affect, could reduce income.

Option 4: Do Nothing: If we let the current arrangement cease and did not implement an alternative solution, we would have no compliant route to market and therefore will revert to spot purchasing. We would have no control over the sufficiency of the supplier. We would start to see inconsistency in income levels, maintenance standards and commitment from the service provider to develop the income stream and advertiser base. This method relies on informal provider relationships; risks price increases without warning and lacks robust contract management arrangements.