---
title: "CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE - Community Engagement Services for the Groundwater Resilience and Community Engagement Programme (GRACE)"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-033628"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-033628"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-033628.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-033628.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "BUCKINGHAMSHIRE COUNCIL"
published: "2022-09-30"
---

# CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE - Community Engagement Services for the Groundwater Resilience and Community Engagement Programme (GRACE)

Buyer: BUCKINGHAMSHIRE COUNCIL  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-033628

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## Summary

The Buckinghamshire Council recently awarded a contract for Community Engagement Services for the Groundwater Resilience and Community Engagement Programme (GRACE). The procurement process was conducted through an open procedure and the contract, valued at approximately £750,000, spans over 4.5 years. The Council sought providers with experience in community engagement and resilience building activities in response to groundwater flooding in 10 at-risk geographical areas.

This tender offers business growth opportunities for organisations experienced in community engagement, environmental management, and resilience building services. Businesses well-suited to compete would need to demonstrate expertise in stakeholder engagement, innovative solutions development, and collaboration with local communities. The contract duration, with the option to extend, provides a stable revenue stream for successful bidders to grow their operations and contribute towards building resilience to flooding and climate change effects in the designated geographical areas.

## Notice

Buckinghamshire Council sought to appoint a provider, or providers, experienced in engaging with the community to deliver community engagement over 4.5 years for the Groundwater Resilience and Community Engagement Programme (GRACE). Interested organisations should be experienced in engagement with local communities. This can be unrelated to flooding. This project is funded by Defra as part of the PS150 million Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme which is managed by the Environment Agency to develop and test new approaches to help communities become more resilient to the effects of flooding and climate change. The aim of the GRACE Programme is, through innovative solutions and stakeholder engagement, to build resilience to groundwater flooding for communities, focusing particularly on 10 at risk geographical areas. The provider(s) shall devise and carry out effective and true engagement with stakeholders and local communities to help collaborate on, and co-produce, innovative solutions to groundwater flood risk. They will work closely with the Engagement and communications workstream. The contract term is 4.5 years (4 years and 6 months) with the option to extend for 1 year. The work shall be undertaken in 4 phases, with each phase dependent on the council first issuing formal written instructions at its discretion for the relevant work to be undertaken. The service is divided into 10 geographical areas referred to as Lots. The 10th area has not yet been agreed and therefore only 9 Lots were covered by this tender process.

### Lot Information

Bramingham, Bedfordshire

Buckinghamshire Council is seeking to appoint a provider, or providers, experienced in engaging with the community to deliver community engagement over 4.5 years for the Groundwater Resilience and Community Engagement Programme (GRACE). Interested organisations should be experienced in engagement with local communities. This can be unrelated to flooding. This project is funded by Defra as part of the PS150 million Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme which is managed by the Environment Agency to develop and test new approaches to help communities become more resilient to the effects of flooding and climate change. The aim of the GRACE Programme is, through innovative solutions and stakeholder engagement, to build resilience to groundwater flooding for communities, focusing particularly on 10 at risk geographical areas. The provider(s) shall devise and carry out effective and true engagement with stakeholders and local communities to help collaborate on, and co-produce, innovative solutions to groundwater flood risk. They will work closely with the Engagement and Communications workstream. The service specification includes an outline of the Engagement Strategy. The engagement will follow the principles laid out in this strategy: transparency, collaboration, early, evidence based, inclusive and innovative. The contract term is 4.5 years (4 years and 6 months) with the option to extend for 1 year. The work shall be undertaken in 4 phases, with each phase dependent on the council first issuing formal written instructions at its discretion for the relevant work to be undertaken. Phase 1 Scoping Phase 2 Awareness raising and initial engagement Phase 3 Collaborative engagement Phase 4 Focused Engagement An indicative task list is likely to include the following: - Regular liaison with the Engagement and Communications leads regarding the Community Engagement and Communications workstream. - Liaison with the workstreams as to the topics that need to be engaged on. - Aligning engagement activities with those of the Thames Water River Chess Smarter Water Catchment Plan, which is a partner project of the GRACE programme and will be running engagement activities on similar topics, in similar areas with similar stakeholders. - Attendance at quarterly Community Engagement and Communications Group meetings. - Developing and maintaining relationships with stakeholders and local communities relevant to chosen Lot. - Carrying out engagement activities as the need arises and as stakeholders dictate (within reason). These activities could include: o sharing and collaborating on flood risk mapping; o listening to communities and feeding back their thoughts; o eliciting feedback to shape further development of flood maps; o developing and testing of property flood resilience measures; o trialling, using and feeding back on new mapping tools/software; o assisting with the establishment of a flood group if none existent; o developing new flood plans / improving existing plans; o assessment of facilities and response capabilities to flooding and identifying routes to improve; o collaborating to develop natural flood management or sustainable drainage responses to groundwater flooding; o collaborating in the development of an improved flood warning system for groundwater flooding; o evaluating the benefits of the programme and working with researchers to measure the improvement to resilience. - Preparing engagement material that may be required for engagement activities in collaboration with the Communications and Engagement leads. - Using a variety of online and in person engagement approaches, such as workshop facilitation, citizen juries, telephone interviews, etc - Identifying engagement opportunities due to local knowledge and local relationships. - Assisting the engagement lead to identify local stakeholders and community groups that may have been missed during mapping exercises or are hard to reach. - Logging engagement activities and assessing what worked well or what could have been improved. A system for logging engagement is currently being decided upon by the programme team. - Liaison with community funding specialist regarding potential fundraising opportunities that have been identified for communities. Each community has been impacted or is impacted by groundwater flooding. However, each community is unique in their demographics, their flooding situation, their response to flooding, their location, their geography and their circumstances. A strategic approach to engagement has been developed and can be found in the Engagement Strategy, however unique and individual approaches to engagement with the communities is required and expected to reflect the differences and the ethos of the GRACE Programme. A budget of approximately PS15,000 per area has been allocated for Phase 1. Budget will be allocated for each subsequent phase based on outcome, performance and future plan. The estimated maximum contract value per area is PS75,000. Should no proposal or no suitable proposal be submitted for one or more of the Lots, the Council reserves the right to undertake a negotiated procedure without prior publication to provide the services in that Lot but is not committed to doing so. In these circumstances, the initial conditions of contract, including the scope of any such Lot, will not be substantially altered.

Renewal: Option to extend for 1 year after initial 4.5 year contract term

Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire Council is seeking to appoint a provider, or providers, experienced in engaging with the community to deliver community engagement over 4.5 years for the Groundwater Resilience and Community Engagement Programme (GRACE). Interested organisations should be experienced in engagement with local communities. This can be unrelated to flooding. This project is funded by Defra as part of the PS150 million Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme which is managed by the Environment Agency to develop and test new approaches to help communities become more resilient to the effects of flooding and climate change. The aim of the GRACE Programme is, through innovative solutions and stakeholder engagement, to build resilience to groundwater flooding for communities, focusing particularly on 10 at risk geographical areas. The provider(s) shall devise and carry out effective and true engagement with stakeholders and local communities to help collaborate on, and co-produce, innovative solutions to groundwater flood risk. They will work closely with the Engagement and Communications workstream. The service specification includes an outline of the Engagement Strategy. The engagement will follow the principles laid out in this strategy: transparency, collaboration, early, evidence based, inclusive and innovative. The contract term is 4.5 years (4 years and 6 months) with the option to extend for 1 year. The work shall be undertaken in 4 phases, with each phase dependent on the council first issuing formal written instructions at its discretion for the relevant work to be undertaken. Phase 1 Scoping Phase 2 Awareness raising and initial engagement Phase 3 Collaborative engagement Phase 4 Focused Engagement An indicative task list is likely to include the following: - Regular liaison with the Engagement and Communications leads regarding the Community Engagement and Communications workstream. - Liaison with the workstreams as to the topics that need to be engaged on. - Aligning engagement activities with those of the Thames Water River Chess Smarter Water Catchment Plan, which is a partner project of the GRACE programme and will be running engagement activities on similar topics, in similar areas with similar stakeholders. - Attendance at quarterly Community Engagement and Communications Group meetings. - Developing and maintaining relationships with stakeholders and local communities relevant to chosen Lot. - Carrying out engagement activities as the need arises and as stakeholders dictate (within reason). These activities could include: o sharing and collaborating on flood risk mapping; o listening to communities and feeding back their thoughts; o eliciting feedback to shape further development of flood maps; o developing and testing of property flood resilience measures; o trialling, using and feeding back on new mapping tools/software; o assisting with the establishment of a flood group if none existent; o developing new flood plans / improving existing plans; o assessment of facilities and response capabilities to flooding and identifying routes to improve; o collaborating to develop natural flood management or sustainable drainage responses to groundwater flooding; o collaborating in the development of an improved flood warning system for groundwater flooding; o evaluating the benefits of the programme and working with researchers to measure the improvement to resilience. - Preparing engagement material that may be required for engagement activities in collaboration with the Communications and Engagement leads. - Using a variety of online and in person engagement approaches, such as workshop facilitation, citizen juries, telephone interviews, etc - Identifying engagement opportunities due to local knowledge and local relationships. - Assisting the engagement lead to identify local stakeholders and community groups that may have been missed during mapping exercises or are hard to reach. - Logging engagement activities and assessing what worked well or what could have been improved. A system for logging engagement is currently being decided upon by the programme team. - Liaison with community funding specialist regarding potential fundraising opportunities that have been identified for communities. Each community has been impacted or is impacted by groundwater flooding. However, each community is unique in their demographics, their flooding situation, their response to flooding, their location, their geography and their circumstances. A strategic approach to engagement has been developed and can be found in the Engagement Strategy, however unique and individual approaches to engagement with the communities is required and expected to reflect the differences and the ethos of the GRACE Programme. A budget of approximately PS15,000 per area has been allocated for Phase 1. Budget will be allocated for each subsequent phase based on outcome, performance and future plan. The estimated maximum contract value per area is PS75,000. Should no proposal or no suitable proposal be submitted for one or more of the Lots, the Council reserves the right to undertake a negotiated procedure without prior publication to provide the services in that Lot but is not committed to doing so. In these circumstances, the initial conditions of contract, including the scope of any such Lot, will not be substantially altered.

Renewal: Option to extend for 1 year after initial 4.5 year contract term

Chesham, Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire Council is seeking to appoint a provider, or providers, experienced in engaging with the community to deliver community engagement over 4.5 years for the Groundwater Resilience and Community Engagement Programme (GRACE). Interested organisations should be experienced in engagement with local communities. This can be unrelated to flooding. This project is funded by Defra as part of the PS150 million Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme which is managed by the Environment Agency to develop and test new approaches to help communities become more resilient to the effects of flooding and climate change. The aim of the GRACE Programme is, through innovative solutions and stakeholder engagement, to build resilience to groundwater flooding for communities, focusing particularly on 10 at risk geographical areas. The provider(s) shall devise and carry out effective and true engagement with stakeholders and local communities to help collaborate on, and co-produce, innovative solutions to groundwater flood risk. They will work closely with the Engagement and Communications workstream. The service specification includes an outline of the Engagement Strategy. The engagement will follow the principles laid out in this strategy: transparency, collaboration, early, evidence based, inclusive and innovative. The contract term is 4.5 years (4 years and 6 months) with the option to extend for 1 year. The work shall be undertaken in 4 phases, with each phase dependent on the council first issuing formal written instructions at its discretion for the relevant work to be undertaken. Phase 1 Scoping Phase 2 Awareness raising and initial engagement Phase 3 Collaborative engagement Phase 4 Focused Engagement An indicative task list is likely to include the following: - Regular liaison with the Engagement and Communications leads regarding the Community Engagement and Communications workstream. - Liaison with the workstreams as to the topics that need to be engaged on. - Aligning engagement activities with those of the Thames Water River Chess Smarter Water Catchment Plan, which is a partner project of the GRACE programme and will be running engagement activities on similar topics, in similar areas with similar stakeholders. - Attendance at quarterly Community Engagement and Communications Group meetings. - Developing and maintaining relationships with stakeholders and local communities relevant to chosen Lot. - Carrying out engagement activities as the need arises and as stakeholders dictate (within reason). These activities could include: o sharing and collaborating on flood risk mapping; o listening to communities and feeding back their thoughts; o eliciting feedback to shape further development of flood maps; o developing and testing of property flood resilience measures; o trialling, using and feeding back on new mapping tools/software; o assisting with the establishment of a flood group if none existent; o developing new flood plans / improving existing plans; o assessment of facilities and response capabilities to flooding and identifying routes to improve; o collaborating to develop natural flood management or sustainable drainage responses to groundwater flooding; o collaborating in the development of an improved flood warning system for groundwater flooding; o evaluating the benefits of the programme and working with researchers to measure the improvement to resilience. - Preparing engagement material that may be required for engagement activities in collaboration with the Communications and Engagement leads. - Using a variety of online and in person engagement approaches, such as workshop facilitation, citizen juries, telephone interviews, etc - Identifying engagement opportunities due to local knowledge and local relationships. - Assisting the engagement lead to identify local stakeholders and community groups that may have been missed during mapping exercises or are hard to reach. - Logging engagement activities and assessing what worked well or what could have been improved. A system for logging engagement is currently being decided upon by the programme team. - Liaison with community funding specialist regarding potential fundraising opportunities that have been identified for communities. Each community has been impacted or is impacted by groundwater flooding. However, each community is unique in their demographics, their flooding situation, their response to flooding, their location, their geography and their circumstances. A strategic approach to engagement has been developed and can be found in the Engagement Strategy, however unique and individual approaches to engagement with the communities is required and expected to reflect the differences and the ethos of the GRACE Programme. A budget of approximately PS15,000 per area has been allocated for Phase 1. Budget will be allocated for each subsequent phase based on outcome, performance and future plan. The estimated maximum contract value per area is PS75,000. Should no proposal or no suitable proposal be submitted for one or more of the Lots, the Council reserves the right to undertake a negotiated procedure without prior publication to provide the services in that Lot but is not committed to doing so. In these circumstances, the initial conditions of contract, including the scope of any such Lot, will not be substantially altered.

Renewal: Option to extend for 1 year after initial 4.5 year contract term

Colnbrook Poyle, Slough

Buckinghamshire Council is seeking to appoint a provider, or providers, experienced in engaging with the community to deliver community engagement over 4.5 years for the Groundwater Resilience and Community Engagement Programme (GRACE). Interested organisations should be experienced in engagement with local communities. This can be unrelated to flooding. This project is funded by Defra as part of the PS150 million Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme which is managed by the Environment Agency to develop and test new approaches to help communities become more resilient to the effects of flooding and climate change. The aim of the GRACE Programme is, through innovative solutions and stakeholder engagement, to build resilience to groundwater flooding for communities, focusing particularly on 10 at risk geographical areas. The provider(s) shall devise and carry out effective and true engagement with stakeholders and local communities to help collaborate on, and co-produce, innovative solutions to groundwater flood risk. They will work closely with the Engagement and Communications workstream. The service specification includes an outline of the Engagement Strategy. The engagement will follow the principles laid out in this strategy: transparency, collaboration, early, evidence based, inclusive and innovative. The contract term is 4.5 years (4 years and 6 months) with the option to extend for 1 year. The work shall be undertaken in 4 phases, with each phase dependent on the council first issuing formal written instructions at its discretion for the relevant work to be undertaken. Phase 1 Scoping Phase 2 Awareness raising and initial engagement Phase 3 Collaborative engagement Phase 4 Focused Engagement An indicative task list is likely to include the following: - Regular liaison with the Engagement and Communications leads regarding the Community Engagement and Communications workstream. - Liaison with the workstreams as to the topics that need to be engaged on. - Aligning engagement activities with those of the Thames Water River Chess Smarter Water Catchment Plan, which is a partner project of the GRACE programme and will be running engagement activities on similar topics, in similar areas with similar stakeholders. - Attendance at quarterly Community Engagement and Communications Group meetings. - Developing and maintaining relationships with stakeholders and local communities relevant to chosen Lot. - Carrying out engagement activities as the need arises and as stakeholders dictate (within reason). These activities could include: o sharing and collaborating on flood risk mapping; o listening to communities and feeding back their thoughts; o eliciting feedback to shape further development of flood maps; o developing and testing of property flood resilience measures; o trialling, using and feeding back on new mapping tools/software; o assisting with the establishment of a flood group if none existent; o developing new flood plans / improving existing plans; o assessment of facilities and response capabilities to flooding and identifying routes to improve; o collaborating to develop natural flood management or sustainable drainage responses to groundwater flooding; o collaborating in the development of an improved flood warning system for groundwater flooding; o evaluating the benefits of the programme and working with researchers to measure the improvement to resilience. - Preparing engagement material that may be required for engagement activities in collaboration with the Communications and Engagement leads. - Using a variety of online and in person engagement approaches, such as workshop facilitation, citizen juries, telephone interviews, etc - Identifying engagement opportunities due to local knowledge and local relationships. - Assisting the engagement lead to identify local stakeholders and community groups that may have been missed during mapping exercises or are hard to reach. - Logging engagement activities and assessing what worked well or what could have been improved. A system for logging engagement is currently being decided upon by the programme team. - Liaison with community funding specialist regarding potential fundraising opportunities that have been identified for communities. Each community has been impacted or is impacted by groundwater flooding. However, each community is unique in their demographics, their flooding situation, their response to flooding, their location, their geography and their circumstances. A strategic approach to engagement has been developed and can be found in the Engagement Strategy, however unique and individual approaches to engagement with the communities is required and expected to reflect the differences and the ethos of the GRACE Programme. A budget of approximately PS15,000 per area has been allocated for Phase 1. Budget will be allocated for each subsequent phase based on outcome, performance and future plan. The estimated maximum contract value per area is PS75,000. Should no proposal or no suitable proposal be submitted for one or more of the Lots, the Council reserves the right to undertake a negotiated procedure without prior publication to provide the services in that Lot but is not committed to doing so. In these circumstances, the initial conditions of contract, including the scope of any such Lot, will not be substantially altered.

Renewal: Option to extend for 1 year after initial 4.5 year contract term

Kimpton, Hertfordshire

Buckinghamshire Council is seeking to appoint a provider, or providers, experienced in engaging with the community to deliver community engagement over 4.5 years for the Groundwater Resilience and Community Engagement Programme (GRACE). Interested organisations should be experienced in engagement with local communities. This can be unrelated to flooding. This project is funded by Defra as part of the PS150 million Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme which is managed by the Environment Agency to develop and test new approaches to help communities become more resilient to the effects of flooding and climate change. The aim of the GRACE Programme is, through innovative solutions and stakeholder engagement, to build resilience to groundwater flooding for communities, focusing particularly on 10 at risk geographical areas. The provider(s) shall devise and carry out effective and true engagement with stakeholders and local communities to help collaborate on, and co-produce, innovative solutions to groundwater flood risk. They will work closely with the Engagement and Communications workstream. The service specification includes an outline of the Engagement Strategy. The engagement will follow the principles laid out in this strategy: transparency, collaboration, early, evidence based, inclusive and innovative. The contract term is 4.5 years (4 years and 6 months) with the option to extend for 1 year. The work shall be undertaken in 4 phases, with each phase dependent on the council first issuing formal written instructions at its discretion for the relevant work to be undertaken. Phase 1 Scoping Phase 2 Awareness raising and initial engagement Phase 3 Collaborative engagement Phase 4 Focused Engagement An indicative task list is likely to include the following: - Regular liaison with the Engagement and Communications leads regarding the Community Engagement and Communications workstream. - Liaison with the workstreams as to the topics that need to be engaged on. - Aligning engagement activities with those of the Thames Water River Chess Smarter Water Catchment Plan, which is a partner project of the GRACE programme and will be running engagement activities on similar topics, in similar areas with similar stakeholders. - Attendance at quarterly Community Engagement and Communications Group meetings. - Developing and maintaining relationships with stakeholders and local communities relevant to chosen Lot. - Carrying out engagement activities as the need arises and as stakeholders dictate (within reason). These activities could include: o sharing and collaborating on flood risk mapping; o listening to communities and feeding back their thoughts; o eliciting feedback to shape further development of flood maps; o developing and testing of property flood resilience measures; o trialling, using and feeding back on new mapping tools/software; o assisting with the establishment of a flood group if none existent; o developing new flood plans / improving existing plans; o assessment of facilities and response capabilities to flooding and identifying routes to improve; o collaborating to develop natural flood management or sustainable drainage responses to groundwater flooding; o collaborating in the development of an improved flood warning system for groundwater flooding; o evaluating the benefits of the programme and working with researchers to measure the improvement to resilience. - Preparing engagement material that may be required for engagement activities in collaboration with the Communications and Engagement leads. - Using a variety of online and in person engagement approaches, such as workshop facilitation, citizen juries, telephone interviews, etc - Identifying engagement opportunities due to local knowledge and local relationships. - Assisting the engagement lead to identify local stakeholders and community groups that may have been missed during mapping exercises or are hard to reach. - Logging engagement activities and assessing what worked well or what could have been improved. A system for logging engagement is currently being decided upon by the programme team. - Liaison with community funding specialist regarding potential fundraising opportunities that have been identified for communities. Each community has been impacted or is impacted by groundwater flooding. However, each community is unique in their demographics, their flooding situation, their response to flooding, their location, their geography and their circumstances. A strategic approach to engagement has been developed and can be found in the Engagement Strategy, however unique and individual approaches to engagement with the communities is required and expected to reflect the differences and the ethos of the GRACE Programme. A budget of approximately PS15,000 per area has been allocated for Phase 1. Budget will be allocated for each subsequent phase based on outcome, performance and future plan. The estimated maximum contract value per area is PS75,000. Should no proposal or no suitable proposal be submitted for one or more of the Lots, the Council reserves the right to undertake a negotiated procedure without prior publication to provide the services in that Lot but is not committed to doing so. In these circumstances, the initial conditions of contract, including the scope of any such Lot, will not be substantially altered.

Renewal: Option to extend for 1 year after initial 4.5 year contract term

Lambourn, West Berkshire

Buckinghamshire Council is seeking to appoint a provider, or providers, experienced in engaging with the community to deliver community engagement over 4.5 years for the Groundwater Resilience and Community Engagement Programme (GRACE). Interested organisations should be experienced in engagement with local communities. This can be unrelated to flooding. This project is funded by Defra as part of the PS150 million Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme which is managed by the Environment Agency to develop and test new approaches to help communities become more resilient to the effects of flooding and climate change. The aim of the GRACE Programme is, through innovative solutions and stakeholder engagement, to build resilience to groundwater flooding for communities, focusing particularly on 10 at risk geographical areas. The provider(s) shall devise and carry out effective and true engagement with stakeholders and local communities to help collaborate on, and co-produce, innovative solutions to groundwater flood risk. They will work closely with the Engagement and Communications workstream. The service specification includes an outline of the Engagement Strategy. The engagement will follow the principles laid out in this strategy: transparency, collaboration, early, evidence based, inclusive and innovative. The contract term is 4.5 years (4 years and 6 months) with the option to extend for 1 year. The work shall be undertaken in 4 phases, with each phase dependent on the council first issuing formal written instructions at its discretion for the relevant work to be undertaken. Phase 1 Scoping Phase 2 Awareness raising and initial engagement Phase 3 Collaborative engagement Phase 4 Focused Engagement An indicative task list is likely to include the following: - Regular liaison with the Engagement and Communications leads regarding the Community Engagement and Communications workstream. - Liaison with the workstreams as to the topics that need to be engaged on. - Aligning engagement activities with those of the Thames Water River Chess Smarter Water Catchment Plan, which is a partner project of the GRACE programme and will be running engagement activities on similar topics, in similar areas with similar stakeholders. - Attendance at quarterly Community Engagement and Communications Group meetings. - Developing and maintaining relationships with stakeholders and local communities relevant to chosen Lot. - Carrying out engagement activities as the need arises and as stakeholders dictate (within reason). These activities could include: o sharing and collaborating on flood risk mapping; o listening to communities and feeding back their thoughts; o eliciting feedback to shape further development of flood maps; o developing and testing of property flood resilience measures; o trialling, using and feeding back on new mapping tools/software; o assisting with the establishment of a flood group if none existent; o developing new flood plans / improving existing plans; o assessment of facilities and response capabilities to flooding and identifying routes to improve; o collaborating to develop natural flood management or sustainable drainage responses to groundwater flooding; o collaborating in the development of an improved flood warning system for groundwater flooding; o evaluating the benefits of the programme and working with researchers to measure the improvement to resilience. - Preparing engagement material that may be required for engagement activities in collaboration with the Communications and Engagement leads. - Using a variety of online and in person engagement approaches, such as workshop facilitation, citizen juries, telephone interviews, etc - Identifying engagement opportunities due to local knowledge and local relationships. - Assisting the engagement lead to identify local stakeholders and community groups that may have been missed during mapping exercises or are hard to reach. - Logging engagement activities and assessing what worked well or what could have been improved. A system for logging engagement is currently being decided upon by the programme team. - Liaison with community funding specialist regarding potential fundraising opportunities that have been identified for communities. Each community has been impacted or is impacted by groundwater flooding. However, each community is unique in their demographics, their flooding situation, their response to flooding, their location, their geography and their circumstances. A strategic approach to engagement has been developed and can be found in the Engagement Strategy, however unique and individual approaches to engagement with the communities is required and expected to reflect the differences and the ethos of the GRACE Programme. A budget of approximately PS15,000 per area has been allocated for Phase 1. Budget will be allocated for each subsequent phase based on outcome, performance and future plan. The estimated maximum contract value per area is PS75,000. Should no proposal or no suitable proposal be submitted for one or more of the Lots, the Council reserves the right to undertake a negotiated procedure without prior publication to provide the services in that Lot but is not committed to doing so. In these circumstances, the initial conditions of contract, including the scope of any such Lot, will not be substantially altered.

Renewal: Option to extend for 1 year after initial 4.5 year contract term

Marlow, Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire Council is seeking to appoint a provider, or providers, experienced in engaging with the community to deliver community engagement over 4.5 years for the Groundwater Resilience and Community Engagement Programme (GRACE). Interested organisations should be experienced in engagement with local communities. This can be unrelated to flooding. This project is funded by Defra as part of the PS150 million Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme which is managed by the Environment Agency to develop and test new approaches to help communities become more resilient to the effects of flooding and climate change. The aim of the GRACE Programme is, through innovative solutions and stakeholder engagement, to build resilience to groundwater flooding for communities, focusing particularly on 10 at risk geographical areas. The provider(s) shall devise and carry out effective and true engagement with stakeholders and local communities to help collaborate on, and co-produce, innovative solutions to groundwater flood risk. They will work closely with the Engagement and Communications workstream. The service specification includes an outline of the Engagement Strategy. The engagement will follow the principles laid out in this strategy: transparency, collaboration, early, evidence based, inclusive and innovative. The contract term is 4.5 years (4 years and 6 months) with the option to extend for 1 year. The work shall be undertaken in 4 phases, with each phase dependent on the council first issuing formal written instructions at its discretion for the relevant work to be undertaken. Phase 1 Scoping Phase 2 Awareness raising and initial engagement Phase 3 Collaborative engagement Phase 4 Focused Engagement An indicative task list is likely to include the following: - Regular liaison with the Engagement and Communications leads regarding the Community Engagement and Communications workstream. - Liaison with the workstreams as to the topics that need to be engaged on. - Aligning engagement activities with those of the Thames Water River Chess Smarter Water Catchment Plan, which is a partner project of the GRACE programme and will be running engagement activities on similar topics, in similar areas with similar stakeholders. - Attendance at quarterly Community Engagement and Communications Group meetings. - Developing and maintaining relationships with stakeholders and local communities relevant to chosen Lot. - Carrying out engagement activities as the need arises and as stakeholders dictate (within reason). These activities could include: o sharing and collaborating on flood risk mapping; o listening to communities and feeding back their thoughts; o eliciting feedback to shape further development of flood maps; o developing and testing of property flood resilience measures; o trialling, using and feeding back on new mapping tools/software; o assisting with the establishment of a flood group if none existent; o developing new flood plans / improving existing plans; o assessment of facilities and response capabilities to flooding and identifying routes to improve; o collaborating to develop natural flood management or sustainable drainage responses to groundwater flooding; o collaborating in the development of an improved flood warning system for groundwater flooding; o evaluating the benefits of the programme and working with researchers to measure the improvement to resilience. - Preparing engagement material that may be required for engagement activities in collaboration with the Communications and Engagement leads. - Using a variety of online and in person engagement approaches, such as workshop facilitation, citizen juries, telephone interviews, etc - Identifying engagement opportunities due to local knowledge and local relationships. - Assisting the engagement lead to identify local stakeholders and community groups that may have been missed during mapping exercises or are hard to reach. - Logging engagement activities and assessing what worked well or what could have been improved. A system for logging engagement is currently being decided upon by the programme team. - Liaison with community funding specialist regarding potential fundraising opportunities that have been identified for communities. Each community has been impacted or is impacted by groundwater flooding. However, each community is unique in their demographics, their flooding situation, their response to flooding, their location, their geography and their circumstances. A strategic approach to engagement has been developed and can be found in the Engagement Strategy, however unique and individual approaches to engagement with the communities is required and expected to reflect the differences and the ethos of the GRACE Programme. A budget of approximately PS15,000 per area has been allocated for Phase 1. Budget will be allocated for each subsequent phase based on outcome, performance and future plan. The estimated maximum contract value per area is PS75,000. Should no proposal or no suitable proposal be submitted for one or more of the Lots, the Council reserves the right to undertake a negotiated procedure without prior publication to provide the services in that Lot but is not committed to doing so. In these circumstances, the initial conditions of contract, including the scope of any such Lot, will not be substantially altered.

Renewal: Option to extend for 1 year after initial 4.5 year contract term

New Hinksey, Oxfordshire

Buckinghamshire Council is seeking to appoint a provider, or providers, experienced in engaging with the community to deliver community engagement over 4.5 years for the Groundwater Resilience and Community Engagement Programme (GRACE). Interested organisations should be experienced in engagement with local communities. This can be unrelated to flooding. This project is funded by Defra as part of the PS150 million Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme which is managed by the Environment Agency to develop and test new approaches to help communities become more resilient to the effects of flooding and climate change. The aim of the GRACE Programme is, through innovative solutions and stakeholder engagement, to build resilience to groundwater flooding for communities, focusing particularly on 10 at risk geographical areas. The provider(s) shall devise and carry out effective and true engagement with stakeholders and local communities to help collaborate on, and co-produce, innovative solutions to groundwater flood risk. They will work closely with the Engagement and Communications workstream. The service specification includes an outline of the Engagement Strategy. The engagement will follow the principles laid out in this strategy: transparency, collaboration, early, evidence based, inclusive and innovative. The contract term is 4.5 years (4 years and 6 months) with the option to extend for 1 year. The work shall be undertaken in 4 phases, with each phase dependent on the council first issuing formal written instructions at its discretion for the relevant work to be undertaken. Phase 1 Scoping Phase 2 Awareness raising and initial engagement Phase 3 Collaborative engagement Phase 4 Focused Engagement An indicative task list is likely to include the following: - Regular liaison with the Engagement and Communications leads regarding the Community Engagement and Communications workstream. - Liaison with the workstreams as to the topics that need to be engaged on. - Aligning engagement activities with those of the Thames Water River Chess Smarter Water Catchment Plan, which is a partner project of the GRACE programme and will be running engagement activities on similar topics, in similar areas with similar stakeholders. - Attendance at quarterly Community Engagement and Communications Group meetings. - Developing and maintaining relationships with stakeholders and local communities relevant to chosen Lot. - Carrying out engagement activities as the need arises and as stakeholders dictate (within reason). These activities could include: o sharing and collaborating on flood risk mapping; o listening to communities and feeding back their thoughts; o eliciting feedback to shape further development of flood maps; o developing and testing of property flood resilience measures; o trialling, using and feeding back on new mapping tools/software; o assisting with the establishment of a flood group if none existent; o developing new flood plans / improving existing plans; o assessment of facilities and response capabilities to flooding and identifying routes to improve; o collaborating to develop natural flood management or sustainable drainage responses to groundwater flooding; o collaborating in the development of an improved flood warning system for groundwater flooding; o evaluating the benefits of the programme and working with researchers to measure the improvement to resilience. - Preparing engagement material that may be required for engagement activities in collaboration with the Communications and Engagement leads. - Using a variety of online and in person engagement approaches, such as workshop facilitation, citizen juries, telephone interviews, etc - Identifying engagement opportunities due to local knowledge and local relationships. - Assisting the engagement lead to identify local stakeholders and community groups that may have been missed during mapping exercises or are hard to reach. - Logging engagement activities and assessing what worked well or what could have been improved. A system for logging engagement is currently being decided upon by the programme team. - Liaison with community funding specialist regarding potential fundraising opportunities that have been identified for communities. Each community has been impacted or is impacted by groundwater flooding. However, each community is unique in their demographics, their flooding situation, their response to flooding, their location, their geography and their circumstances. A strategic approach to engagement has been developed and can be found in the Engagement Strategy, however unique and individual approaches to engagement with the communities is required and expected to reflect the differences and the ethos of the GRACE Programme. A budget of approximately PS15,000 per area has been allocated for Phase 1. Budget will be allocated for each subsequent phase based on outcome, performance and future plan. The estimated maximum contract value per area is PS75,000. Should no proposal or no suitable proposal be submitted for one or more of the Lots, the Council reserves the right to undertake a negotiated procedure without prior publication to provide the services in that Lot but is not committed to doing so. In these circumstances, the initial conditions of contract, including the scope of any such Lot, will not be substantially altered.

Renewal: Option to extend for 1 year after initial 4.5 year contract term

Pang Valley, Berkshire

Buckinghamshire Council is seeking to appoint a provider, or providers, experienced in engaging with the community to deliver community engagement over 4.5 years for the Groundwater Resilience and Community Engagement Programme (GRACE). Interested organisations should be experienced in engagement with local communities. This can be unrelated to flooding. This project is funded by Defra as part of the PS150 million Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme which is managed by the Environment Agency to develop and test new approaches to help communities become more resilient to the effects of flooding and climate change. The aim of the GRACE Programme is, through innovative solutions and stakeholder engagement, to build resilience to groundwater flooding for communities, focusing particularly on 10 at risk geographical areas. The provider(s) shall devise and carry out effective and true engagement with stakeholders and local communities to help collaborate on, and co-produce, innovative solutions to groundwater flood risk. They will work closely with the Engagement and Communications workstream. The service specification includes an outline of the Engagement Strategy. The engagement will follow the principles laid out in this strategy: transparency, collaboration, early, evidence based, inclusive and innovative. The contract term is 4.5 years (4 years and 6 months) with the option to extend for 1 year. The work shall be undertaken in 4 phases, with each phase dependent on the council first issuing formal written instructions at its discretion for the relevant work to be undertaken. Phase 1 Scoping Phase 2 Awareness raising and initial engagement Phase 3 Collaborative engagement Phase 4 Focused Engagement An indicative task list is likely to include the following: - Regular liaison with the Engagement and Communications leads regarding the Community Engagement and Communications workstream. - Liaison with the workstreams as to the topics that need to be engaged on. - Aligning engagement activities with those of the Thames Water River Chess Smarter Water Catchment Plan, which is a partner project of the GRACE programme and will be running engagement activities on similar topics, in similar areas with similar stakeholders. - Attendance at quarterly Community Engagement and Communications Group meetings. - Developing and maintaining relationships with stakeholders and local communities relevant to chosen Lot. - Carrying out engagement activities as the need arises and as stakeholders dictate (within reason). These activities could include: o sharing and collaborating on flood risk mapping; o listening to communities and feeding back their thoughts; o eliciting feedback to shape further development of flood maps; o developing and testing of property flood resilience measures; o trialling, using and feeding back on new mapping tools/software; o assisting with the establishment of a flood group if none existent; o developing new flood plans / improving existing plans; o assessment of facilities and response capabilities to flooding and identifying routes to improve; o collaborating to develop natural flood management or sustainable drainage responses to groundwater flooding; o collaborating in the development of an improved flood warning system for groundwater flooding; o evaluating the benefits of the programme and working with researchers to measure the improvement to resilience. - Preparing engagement material that may be required for engagement activities in collaboration with the Communications and Engagement leads. - Using a variety of online and in person engagement approaches, such as workshop facilitation, citizen juries, telephone interviews, etc - Identifying engagement opportunities due to local knowledge and local relationships. - Assisting the engagement lead to identify local stakeholders and community groups that may have been missed during mapping exercises or are hard to reach. - Logging engagement activities and assessing what worked well or what could have been improved. A system for logging engagement is currently being decided upon by the programme team. - Liaison with community funding specialist regarding potential fundraising opportunities that have been identified for communities. Each community has been impacted or is impacted by groundwater flooding. However, each community is unique in their demographics, their flooding situation, their response to flooding, their location, their geography and their circumstances. A strategic approach to engagement has been developed and can be found in the Engagement Strategy, however unique and individual approaches to engagement with the communities is required and expected to reflect the differences and the ethos of the GRACE Programme. A budget of approximately PS15,000 per area has been allocated for Phase 1. Budget will be allocated for each subsequent phase based on outcome, performance and future plan. The estimated maximum contract value per area is PS75,000. Should no proposal or no suitable proposal be submitted for one or more of the Lots, the Council reserves the right to undertake a negotiated procedure without prior publication to provide the services in that Lot but is not committed to doing so. In these circumstances, the initial conditions of contract, including the scope of any such Lot, will not be substantially altered.

Renewal: Option to extend for 1 year after initial 4.5 year contract term

Community Engagement Services for the Groundwater Resilience and Community Engagement Programme (GRACE)

Buckinghamshire Council sought to appoint a provider, or providers, experienced in engaging with the community to deliver community engagement over 4.5 years for the Groundwater Resilience and Community Engagement Programme (GRACE). Interested organisations should be experienced in engagement with local communities. This can be unrelated to flooding. This project is funded by Defra as part of the PS150 million Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme which is managed by the Environment Agency to develop and test new approaches to help communities become more resilient to the effects of flooding and climate change. The aim of the GRACE Programme is, through innovative solutions and stakeholder engagement, to build resilience to groundwater flooding for communities, focusing particularly on 10 at risk geographical areas. The provider(s) shall devise and carry out effective and true engagement with stakeholders and local communities to help collaborate on, and co-produce, innovative solutions to groundwater flood risk. They will work closely with the Engagement and communications workstream. The contract term is 4.5 years (4 years and 6 months) with the option to extend for 1 year. The work shall be undertaken in 4 phases, with each phase dependent on the council first issuing formal written instructions at its discretion for the relevant work to be undertaken. The service is divided into 10 geographical areas referred to as Lots. The 10th area has not yet been agreed and therefore only 9 Lots were covered by this tender process. The lots are defined by the pilot communities that the GRACE Programme is focussing upon, namely: * Lot 1 Bramingham, Bedfordshire * Lot 2 Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire * Lot 3 Chesham, Buckinghamshire * Lot 4 Colnbrook Poyle, Slough * Lot 5 Kimpton, Hertfordshire * Lot 6 Lambourn, West Berkshire * Lot 7 Marlow, Buckinghamshire * Lot 8 New Hinksey, Oxfordshire * Lot 9 Pang Valley, Berkshire A budget of approximately PS15,000 per area has been allocated for Phase 1. Budget will be allocated for each subsequent phase based on outcome, performance and future plan. The estimated maximum contract value per area is PS75,000. The total contract value for the 4.5 year period including any extension for the 10 pilot areas is estimated to be PS750,000.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/027412-2022 |
| Notice type | Tender Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Open procedure |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 30 Sep 2022 |
| Submission deadline | 4 Jul 2022 |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 1 Sep 2022 |
| Contract period | 30 Sep 2022 - 31 Mar 2027 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £750,000 |
| Lots value | £675,000 |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Active, Cancelled |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | BUCKINGHAMSHIRE COUNCIL |
| Locality | AYLESBURY |
| Post town | Hemel Hempstead |
| Postcode | HP20 1UA |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLJ South East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLJ1 Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire |
| ITL 3 | TLJ13 Buckinghamshire |
| Local authority | Buckinghamshire |
| Electoral ward | Aylesbury North |
| Westminster constituency | Aylesbury |
| Delivery location | TLH23 Hertfordshire CC, TLH25 Central Bedfordshire, TLJ South East (England), TLJ11 Berkshire, TLJ13 Buckinghamshire, TLJ14 Oxfordshire CC |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 2 |
| Supplier names | THE GROUNDWORK SOUTH TRUST; THE GROUNDWORK TRUST SOUTH |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 90 - Sewage, refuse, cleaning and environmental services

### Codes

- 90710000 - Environmental management
- 90713000 - Environmental issues consultancy services

## Release History

- 30 Sep 2022 at 08:10 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/027412-2022
- 10 May 2022 at 14:59 - Tender - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/012171-2022

## Notice URLs

- https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/
- https://www.supplybucksbusiness.org.uk

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-033628. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-033628.json.