Estate Management Strategy

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1. At a glance

2. Scope of Work

This tender seeks a comprehensive Estate Management Strategy for Waterways Ireland. The strategy will guide the organisation in managing its property estate to align with corporate objectives, ensure operational efficiency, financial sustainability, and optimise asset value. The work focuses on land and buildings, sitting alongside the existing Asset Management Framework and other corporate plans.

The contractor will undertake the following key activities:

• Develop a Corporate Estate Management Strategy: This strategy will have a minimum 5-year horizon, outlining a clear vision, strategic objectives, and an implementation roadmap. It must align with Waterways Ireland's 10-Year Plan, statutory remit, and relevant corporate strategies.
• Conduct a Baseline Estate Assessment: This involves a comprehensive analysis of the current property portfolio. It will establish an evidence-based understanding of the estate's composition, strategic role, utilisation, occupancy, operating costs, maintenance profile, environmental performance, and contribution to service delivery. An estate classification framework will be developed to reflect operational requirements, statutory responsibilities, heritage and biodiversity obligations, and strategic objectives. The contractor will review provided data (asset inventory, valuations, maintenance, condition, energy/utility data) and identify any gaps or limitations.
• Perform a Phased Estate Review:
• Phase 1 – Principal Operational Estate Review (17 offices): A detailed review of 17 principal office locations (15 owned, 2 leased), with a specific focus on the Headquarters building. This includes assessing current use, occupancy, accommodation needs, suitability for future work practices, costs, energy/environmental performance, lease arrangements, and required interventions. Site visits to all 17 properties are mandatory.
• Phase 2 – Operational Estate Review (92 buildings): A proportionate strategic review of 92 operational buildings (90 owned, 2 leased). This will assess current use, accommodation/utilisation requirements, costs, energy/environmental performance, lease arrangements, and required interventions. Tenderers must propose an approach for selecting properties for site visits, with a minimum number/proportion or categories to be visited.
• Phase 3 – Wider Estate Review (73 buildings and land): A review of approximately 73 heritage and non-operational assets and associated land holdings. This will identify opportunities for redevelopment, regeneration, adaptive reuse, partnership working, income generation, enhancement of public value, and disposal of surplus assets, considering statutory responsibilities and organisational objectives. Site visits are not anticipated unless necessary for detailed assessment.
• Develop an Estate Optimisation Plan: This plan will identify prioritised short-, medium-, and long-term opportunities for estate performance improvement, including operational efficiencies, rationalisation, development, investment, income generation, and disposals. It must detail rationale, indicative costs/benefits, dependencies, risks, timescales, and implementation priority.
• Undertake Strategic Alignment and Benchmarking: Review relevant legislation, national policy, government strategies, and Waterways Ireland's corporate strategies to ensure alignment. Benchmark the proposed approach against comparable public sector organisations and identify best practices.
• Create an Implementation and Performance Monitoring Framework: This framework will detail governance, organisational enablers, and performance monitoring mechanisms. It includes an implementation roadmap, governance/reporting mechanisms, financial/workforce/data/digital enablers, recommendations for ongoing monitoring, allocation of responsibility, indicative timescales, KPI definitions, baselines, targets, and reporting/review arrangements.
• Develop a Sustainability, Climate and Biodiversity Framework: This will integrate environmental, climate, energy, and biodiversity considerations into decision-making. It requires modelling energy performance, establishing a retrofit-first approach for the operational estate, applying whole-life carbon assessment, defining a hierarchy for resolving heritage constraints, and recommending biodiversity accounting metrics and policy text (no net loss or net gain).
• Deliver Estate Spatial Data and GIS Outputs: Provide spatial and tabular outputs in a format loadable into Waterways Ireland’s GIS systems (.shp or .dwg files).

The contract duration is anticipated to be 24 weeks from the Effective Date, with a requirement for a detailed programme demonstrating completion within this period.

3. Background & buyer context

Waterways Ireland is a North-South Implementation Body established under the British-Irish Agreement Act of 1999. It is responsible for managing, maintaining, developing, and restoring 1,100 km of inland navigable waterways, primarily for recreational purposes. The organisation operates across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, with headquarters in Enniskillen and regional offices. Waterways Ireland generates significant social, economic, and environmental well-being, valued at €600 million annually.

This procurement aligns with Strategic Priority 3: Asset Portfolio Management within Waterways Ireland's 10-Year Plan (2023-2032). The organisation's estate comprises approximately 178 buildings and associated land holdings, including administrative offices, operational accommodation, heritage buildings, and agricultural land. The current rebuild cost valuation of its infrastructure exceeds €1 billion.

The need for an Estate Management Strategy arises from evolving operational estate requirements, driven by increasing operational and energy costs, changing workplace practices (including hybrid working post-COVID-19), and the imperative to meet climate action and decarbonisation objectives. This presents an opportunity to optimise the operational estate, improve space utilisation, reduce costs, and ensure the property portfolio aligns with future organisational needs. Furthermore, the wider estate offers opportunities for reuse, regeneration, redevelopment, disposal, partnership working, and sustainable income generation.

An Asset Management maturity assessment was conducted in 2019, leading to an Asset Management Improvement Programme implemented since 2020. The Estate Management Strategy will complement the existing Asset Management Framework, focusing specifically on land and buildings.

4. Eligibility & selection criteria

Bidders must meet the following minimum requirements to be considered:

• Turnover requirement: Confirmation that the tendering party's turnover exceeded €150,000 during a specified period (period not explicitly stated in the provided text, but implied by the phrase).
• Insurance:
• Employer's Liability Insurance: €13 million / £10 million
• Public Liability Insurance: €6.5 million / £5 million
• Professional Indemnity Insurance: €2 million / £2 million
• Certifications: Not specified for this tender.
• Past experience: Not specified for this tender.
• Personnel: All key personnel must possess a minimum of a relevant honours degree with five years' experience OR seven years of relevant professional experience. Tenderers must confirm the availability of each key team member for the anticipated contract period and identify the number of days allocated. Proposed key team members cannot be replaced without prior written approval.
• Geographic / facility constraints: Delivery is required in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

5. Award criteria & scoring

The contract will be awarded based on the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT). The award criteria and their weighting are not explicitly detailed in the provided text. However, the tender documents state that the "lowest cost tender that also meets all the minimum requirements of the qualitative award" will be considered. This implies a significant weighting towards price, but with essential qualitative components that must be met.

6. Submission requirements

Bidders must submit their proposals using the provided Tender Response Document. Specific requirements include:

• Tender Response Document: This mandatory document must be used in the specified format.
• Programme: A detailed programme demonstrating how the Services and Deliverables will be completed within the 24-week contract period. This programme must identify activities, milestones, dependencies, Waterways Ireland inputs, review periods, key personnel, and proposed completion dates.
• Pricing Schedule: Not explicitly detailed, but implied as part of the Tender Response Document.
• Case Studies: Not specified for this tender.
• Declarations:
• Bona Fides
• Tax clearance
• Conflict of Interest
• European Single Procurement Document (ESPD) - Implied by standard procurement practice.
• Mandatory site visit: Not specified for this tender, but site visits are required as part of the scope of work for Phase 1.
• Submission portal: Via the post-box facility on www.etenders.gov.ie.
• Currency: Tenders must be submitted in Euro (€).
• Tender Validity: Tenders must remain valid for 12 months from the submission deadline.

7. Key dates & process

8. Contract terms that matter

• Term: The initial contract duration is 24 weeks from the Effective Date.
• Extension: The contract may be extended by up to three (3) extensions of three (3) months each, making a potential total contract length of fifteen (15) months. Extensions are subject to satisfactory performance, budget availability, and ongoing business needs.
• Payment terms: Not specified in the provided text.
• Key SLAs/KPIs: Not specified in the provided text, but the "Implementation and Performance Monitoring Framework" deliverable will define these.
• Liquidated damages or penalty regimes: Not specified in the provided text.
• Termination clauses: Governed by the Contract Terms and Conditions, which are to be reviewed and accepted by tenderers.
• IP ownership: Not specified in the provided text.
• Sub-contracting rules: Tenderers may rely on the resources of other entities to meet capacity requirements, provided they can prove these resources will be at their disposal. If a consortium is successful, it must establish legal personality to enter the contract.
• Parent-company guarantee or bond requirements: Not specified in the provided text.

9. Risks, red flags & unusuals

• Phased approach with specific deliverables: The contract is structured around distinct phases (1, 2, 3) with defined deliverables and timelines (e.g., Phase 1 report by Week 8, Draft Strategy by Week 21, Final Strategy by Week 24). This requires tight project management and adherence to schedule.
• Data quality reliance: The successful tenderer will be provided with data, but must identify gaps and state the confidence in any relied-upon historic energy, emissions, or ecological data. This implies a risk of incomplete or inaccurate data impacting the strategy development.
• Mandatory site visits for Phase 1: While not a pre-tender requirement, the scope mandates site visits for all 17 Phase 1 properties, requiring logistical planning and cost allocation within the bid.
• Tender validity period: A 12-month tender validity period is required, which is longer than typical for consultancy services and may impact bidder commitment.
• Potential for award to runner-up: The contracting authority reserves the right to award the contract to the next highest-scoring tenderer if the successful tenderer fails to deliver.

10. SME fit assessment

This tender is structured to allow participation by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Waterways Ireland explicitly encourages SMEs to explore forming relationships with other SMEs or larger enterprises to meet capacity requirements.

• Credible bidders: A viable bidder would likely be a consultancy with expertise in estate management, asset management, property strategy, and sustainability, with a proven track record in public sector or large-scale property portfolio analysis. They would need to demonstrate strong project management capabilities and the ability to integrate diverse data sources.
• Consortium/sub-contracting: Consortiums and joint ventures are permitted. SMEs are encouraged to collaborate. Reliance on the resources of other entities is allowed, provided it can be proven.
• Indicative bid-prep effort: Developing a compliant bid, including a detailed programme and addressing the phased review requirements, would likely require significant effort, potentially several weeks of dedicated work for a small team, depending on the firm's existing templates and expertise.
• Pwin signal: The tender is an open procedure below OJEU value, suggesting it is intended to be competitive. There is no explicit mention of an incumbent supplier for this specific strategy development. The emphasis on SME participation and collaboration suggests an openness to new entrants.

11. Where to dig deeper

• Source RFT filename(s):
• 8879889 Estate Management Strategy RFT Appendices 1-3.pdf
• 8879889 Request for Tender - Estate Management Strategy.pdf
• eTenders CFT ID: 8879889
• Contact for Queries: Messaging facility on www.etenders.gov.ie only.
• Most important attachments:
• Appendix 1 – Asset Management Framework
• Appendix 2 - Asset Inventory
• Appendix 3 – List of relevant Waterways Ireland Strategies / Plans