Decision details

Approval was given at Cabinet on May 10th, 2022, for progression to a tender process, with the decision delegated to the Director of Growth and Regeneration. The existing contract expires in September 2022.

Bristol City Council is to commission a new book supply contract for 27 sites within Bristol Library Service (adult and children). The Council will be directly awarding the contract to Askews

Option 1 - A transition to a new contract was essential to preserve the supply of new books and materials to Bristol’s 27 libraries. A direct award was the quickest and most efficient route. Owing to the amount of time available between the award of the key decision and the end of the current contract (1st October 2022) there was not enough time to run either an open tender, or mini competition via a framework. Running either of these routes would have meant the existing contract would need to have been extended which would have breached both the BCC Procurement rules and the Public Contract Regulations 2015. A direct award via the NEPO418 Library Books