REMINDER – Invitation to Tender is Still Open for Bird Hide at Morris Bridge Fields near Marches Mosses
June 4, 2020
Shropshire Wildlife Trust has issued an Invitation to Tender (ITT) for a bird hide to be built at the Morris Bridge Fields, near the Marches Mosses.
Marches Mosses BogLIFE Project LIFE15/NAT/UK/000786
Note: Please be aware that the links on this page will take you to an external website.
Invitation to Tender: to construct and install a bird hide at Morris’ Bridge Fields
Note: Please be aware that links on this page take you to third party websites.
Overview of Shropshire Wildlife Trust (the contracting organisation)
Shropshire Wildlife Trust is a conservation charity established in 1962 to conserve and protect Shropshire’s wildlife. This is achieved by directly conserving wildlife and habitat, undertaking research and reconnecting people with wildlife.
Shropshire Wildlife Trust is a registered charity number 212744 and a company registered in England and Wales, number 729746. Registered Address 193 Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, SY2 6AH www.shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk
Project Background
The Marches Mosses BogLIFE project (LIFE15 NAT/UK/000786) is a five year project running from 1 October 2016 to 31 December 2021. The project aims to restore Britain’s 3rd largest lowland raised bog within the Fenn’s, Whixall & Bettisfield Mosses and Wem Moss NNRs near Whitchurch, Shropshire and Wrexham in Wales. The LIFE project is led by Natural England working in partnership with Natural Resources Wales and Shropshire Wildlife Trust. The multi-million pound project is supported by an EU LIFE grant and The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
More information can be found at www.themeresandmosses.co.uk
The partnership will restore lowland raised peatbog and fen lagg habitat but also improve the intellectual and physical access to the mosses. An area of land has been purchased which originally formed the edge of Whixall Moss (lagg habitat). This has become naturally wet over recent years and has become one of the best areas for wildfowl and wetland birds in North Shropshire. A water management scheme has been designed which will enable the water levels across the land to be managed to afford optimum conditions for a range of wetland birds, wildfowl and the creation of wetland habitat for other wildlife. In order to afford better interaction between the wetland habitat and visitors a bird-hide is included in the design.
Tender location
Morris’ Bridge Fields are located to the west of the dispersed settlement of Whixall close to the Welsh Border. The site is located 5.3 miles north of Wem and 6.5 miles south west of Whitchurch. (See Drg. No 001 – Location Plan)
The site is accessed from Moss Lane which leads to Morris’ Bridge with the subject fields located on either side of this lane.
The hide will be located in a field on the left of the lane, at Grid ref: SJ 493 351. The nearest postcode is SY13 2RX. (See Drg. No 2 – Master Plan)
Coronavirus Lockdown
In normal circumstances, a contractor may wish to visit the Moss to gain a better understanding of the above Invitation to Tender or to arrange a site meeting to talk through the design and materials.
However, during coronavirus restrictions, all of the UK’s National Nature Reserves, car parks and visitor facilities are closed until further notice, including the Fenn’s, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses NNR and the Bird Hide location. Therefore, you will not be able to visit the Mosses. If you submit a tender, we will let you know when the restrictions are lifted.
We acknowledge that during the Coronavirus outbreak, contractors may find it difficult to maintain business activities at the same level as normal. We wish to reassure contractors that we will take this in to account during the tender process and in the successful delivery of the above tender and timescales outlined. If contractors are experiencing difficulties, please contact Jan Mckelvey janm@shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk 01743 284294
Specification
We require a contractor to construct and install a wheelchair accessible bird hide. Detailed plans are available – see Whixall Hide Plans nos. 1-4. The hide is 9m x 2.4m with a green roof and situated on a raised gravel pad which forms part of an access track for wetland maintenance operations. Detail on suggested materials is included in the plans.
The access track and other ground works will be completed by another contractor before the hide installation can commence. This engineering work is weather dependent and as a result we are unsure when it will be complete. Depending on how dry the ground conditions are we hope a contractor will be able to commence this work in September. We anticipate the engineering works to be complete by the end of October (but please note if we have a wet summer it may push this work back into 2021).
Bearing this in mind we would like to receive tenders from contractors that can quote for the complete job but be prepared to complete the work in 2 phases – off site construction and on site installation should we need to. Construction of the hide will ideally occur in October / November 2020, subject to current restrictions and constraints imposed through the Covid-19 pandemic.
Timescales
| Activity | Date / time |
| Issue of Contract Notice / availability of ITT documents | 7th May 2020 |
| Deadline for submission of ITT responses by potential suppliers (Tender Response Deadline) | 5pm on 8th June 2020 |
| Contract offered to winning supplier | 15th June 2020 |
| Contract start date | 1st July 2020 |
Budget
We anticipate this work will cost between £17,000 and £23,000 (inclusive of VAT).
Tender Response
Shropshire Wildlife Trust exists to protect wildlife for the future; sustainability is at the heart of the Trust’s activities. However, we recognise that through our operations we can have an adverse impact on the environment. We will therefore seek to minimise any negative environmental impacts and to achieve continuous improvement in our environmental performance.
We seek tenders that are in keeping with our Environmental procurement policy and our Environmental Sustainability Policy which are attached to the ITT documents.
Please supply a response including:
· A covering letter explaining your past experience and suitability for the contract
· Examples of previous work and references
· Detail of the materials you will use, how you will meet the brief, what practises will support SWT’s environmental considerations and what your availability is for both this year and next (should we have to push the engineering works into 2021)
· What regulations or standards you work to, what training employees are given etc
· Project schedule with milestones
· Total cost (incl VAT if relevant)
Your tender response must remain open for acceptance by SWT for a period of 90 days from the Tender Response Deadline. A tender response not valid for this period may be rejected.
The successful supplier will be required to complete an approved contractor’s questionnaire before the contract can be let.
Quotes should be returned by email to janm@shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk by 5pm on Monday 8th June 2020
Criteria
Quotes will be scored against the following criteria to achieve best value:
· Ability to deliver the works (proven track record, relevant past experience and availability) – 50%
· Cost – 45%
· Empathy of the Trust’s environmental sustainability policy and environmental procurement policy – 5%
Contact
For an informal discussion please contact Jan McKelvey on 01743 284294
On all documents please quote:
Marches Mosses BogLIFE Project (LIFE15 NAT/UK/000786)
You may prefer to download and print the ITT. If so, a PDF of the tender document is here:
ITT Bird hide Morris Bridge Fields v1 w CV adapt
Please read the Shropshire Wildlife Trust Environmental and Sustainability policies here, which form part of the ITT:
SWT Environmental sustainability policy
You can find the location plan and master plan for the bird hide here, which also form part of the ITT:
Drawing No 001 – Location Plan
And finally, you can find drawings of the bird hide here, also part of the ITT:
