Best value - Kent seeks property partners

The UK's largest local authority, Kent County Council, is looking for partners to take on four key property-and-facilities-related business units, following a review under Best Value.

The four units – Kent Facilities Management, The Kent Environment Consultancy, Oakwood House and Kent Estates Management – fall under the management of the authority's property group. This has corporate landlord responsibility for the council's £1billion estate.

The group has 200 full-time staff and an expenditure budget of £17 million.

It is estimated that each of the contracts will run for five years, commencing April 2002. Those interested in bidding for the work must submit expressions of interest by 14 May.

Alan Phelps, planning and information manager at the council, said the Best Value review had recommended the council take an outsourcing approach. 'There is a ready market of suppliers in this area,' he said.

Kent Facilities Management is responsible for a range of services to buildings in the county and employs up to 100 staff; Kent Environment Consultancy, which employs 25 staff, manages urban and rural landscapes and provides consultancy services on energy consumption; Oakwood House is an in-house training facility; and Kent Estate Management provides the council and external clients with services for the acquisition and disposal of land and property.

The successful bidder will be expected to take on existing staff and provide for a pension under TUPE. A team including strategy managers of Kent County Council will be retained to oversee the contract.

The council's Best Value review was kicked off in April 2000, since when it has successfully outsourced its building maintenance and design maintenance functions.

Alan Phelps, planning and information manager at the council, says the next step could be to transfer Kent's property and estate to a private partner via an asset transfer or PFI-type deal.'It is something we can consider,' he said, 'but it will be complex to make it happen.'

Phelps said the council had decided not to follow the DSS model, where property and services were outsourced in one batch, because it is easier to outsource them separately.

'It is easier to do it this way rather than consider something more radical,' said Phelps.