In 1999, the JV contract with NCP created a wholly owned company, NCP Manchester Ltd, (NML) with a 55%/45% shareholding to NCP/MCC respectively, to manage and maintain those car parks listed in the JV Agreement.  The JV Agreement was for 20 years and did not include an extension clause in the Agreement.  As a result the current Agreement will come to an end in June 2019.

The car parks in the JV Agreement include a mixture of NCP and MCC owned/rented sites, and include multi-storey and surface car parks.  The JV Agreement is a Management and Maintenance Agreement to allow NCP Manchester Ltd to operate and maintain both NCP and MCC car parks.

Procurement colleagues advise that while the formal JV contract cannot be extended, the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016, regulation 43 could be used as it allows for the modification of contracts during their term under certain specific criteria.

An agreement could therefore be entered into with NCP to extend an arrangement with the company for a defined and limited period.  This would enable to Council to carry out important tasks that are necessary to bring the current contract to a satisfactory conclusion and would enable the Council to define more clearly what would be required from a future contract.

Officers have considered what an appropriate period for the agreement would be that enables the necessary work to be undertaken while enabling a new tender to be issued and alternative arrangements to be put in place as soon as possible.  The conclusion is that while it would be legally feasible to enter into an agreement for any length of time from one to three years, and extension for eighteen months until December 2020 would provide the right balance between setting new arrangements in place as quickly as possible and the need to carry out the necessary preparatory work Officers are also asking for agreement for the new agreement to be extended for further six month periods on a rolling basis if this is necessary to complete the review of the future strategy for surface and multi-storey car parks.