Rushmoor Borough Council - Leisure Centre Operator

AWARD & STANDSTILL PERIOD

Following receipt of best and final tenders on 19th December 2025 the Council has concluded the assessment process and will award a contract under Lot 2 - Agency Agreement. Assessment summaries to the successful and unsuccessful suppliers have been issued as required under Section 50 of the Procurement Act 23 (the 'Act').

Issuing of this Award Notice will now instigate the standstill period which will not be less than eight-working days (the Standstill Period), in line with section 51 of the Act.

The Council reserves the right to amend (extend) the Standstill Period if needed; if this right is exercised, the Contract Award Notice will be updated and affected suppliers will be notified accordingly.

After the Standstill Period has expired, and provided no legal challenge has been made by the end of the Standstill Period or any agreed extension, the Council intends to enter into contracts with the Successful Supplier. Following this, the Council also intends to publish a Contract Details Notice.

DESCRIPTION

Rushmoor Borough Council ('the council') invited tenders from suitably experienced leisure facility operators for the operation of a planned new leisure centre to be located in Farnborough as well as the operation of the council's existing leisure centre & lido facilities located in Aldershot.

The new Farnborough Leisure Centre, which is currently scheduled to open late 2027 / early 2028, will proactively address identified community needs aligned to health, physical

activity and social wellbeing.

The leisure operator appointed via this formal procurement process will manage both the Aldershot and Farnborough facilities, with the contract split into two distinct phases:

• the Interim Phase, during which the contractor will manage the Aldershot facilities and at the request of the Council, provide any input requested in relation to the opening of Farnborough Leisure Facility, and
• the Main Phase, during which the contractor will fully operate both facilities

The Interim Phase of the Contract is planned to commence shortly

afterwards from 1st April 2026, at which point the Operator will be required to commence delivery of services at the existing Aldershot facilities to coincide with the summer opening of the Lido.

The operator may be asked to provide input into the final design & configuration of the new Farnborough Leisure Centre where possible within the development programme, as well as

mobilisation, launch and other pre-opening services for the new centre.

The Council's target date for opening of the new Farnborough facility is late 2027 / early 2028, at which point the contract will enter its Main Phase. The duration of the Interim Phase is dependent on the date the new facility is ready to be opened, but is likely to run for around 18 to 24 months.

The interim phase will continue for a maximum of 2 years. However, its duration is dependent on the date when the new facility is ready to be opened so may run for a shorter period.

The Main Phase of the contract will involve operation of both the Aldershot facilities and new Farnborough facility & will then run for a further 15 years. The contract may subsequently be extended by up to 10 years, in further increments to be agreed by both parties up to a maximum term of 25 years.

CORE SCOPE

The scope of services / activities / inputs that the Operator will be responsible for can be summarised as:

• Equipment fit out of the new Farnborough Leisure Centre
• Operational management of the specified Rushmoor Borough Council leisure facilities;
  • Operation, programming, activities & events
  • Marketing, promotion & communication
  • Customer on-boarding, booking, account management, website, back office & customer service
  • Facilities management, Health & Safety management, Servicing, Repairs & Maintenance
  • Open book performance reporting, partnership working & continuous improvement
• Delivery of the Authority and Public Health priorities to address the wider determinants of health;
• Partnership working including;
  • Developing a higher profile for community sport
  • Advocating the benefits of leisure time and activities.
  • Open book performance reporting
  • Continuous improvement

As allowed for within the design of the competitive flexible procedure used to undertake this procurement, the Council included for additional Council owned leisure facilities (operation of ski centre / administration of tennis courts) within stage 2 (Best & final tenders) of the process. As allowed for under the procedure the Council also invited development proposals for the existing Aldershot facilities & at stage 2 of the process allowed for the commercial impact of these to be included within core business plans. This has resulted in the estimated value of the contract based primarily upon turnover projection over the maximum 25 year term increasing above the non-binding estimate of £105,700,000 included for within the tender notice.