Deed of Variation of John O'Conner Grounds Maintenance Contract

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 scale requires an 18 month to 2-year procurement timeframe. The Officers and Councillors of the new unitary would also wish to ensure any new contract is in line with the geography and strategy of the new authority. • If we began a procurement exercise in summer 2026, the procurement would be caught up in the transition work required by LGR and the government statutory changes order, making this impractical with the risk that the contract would expire just prior to the new unitary being established.