Summary

Deecon delivered a strategic procurement programme for Whitbread PLC to secure contractors for the refurbishment of Premier Inn hotel rooms. This resulted in the appointment of an additional refurbishment contractor and a multi-million pound annual reduction against existing rates. The process enhanced spend visibility, improved rebate terms, and equipped Whitbread with a reusable best-practice procurement toolkit.

The Requirement

Deecon were engaged to manage Whitbread’s end-to-end procurement process to award an additional refurbishment contractor and motivate the incumbent contractors to identify value engineering. In addition, Deecon were required to consolidate cost reporting to improve Whitbread’s visibility and capability to manage spend.

The framework required suitable contractors to refurbish bedrooms, bathrooms and communal areas across Premier Inn UK locations. The projected spend for the five year framework was over a quarter of a billion pounds. Deecon collaborated with Whitbread to deliver the tender process from initial strategy to execution within a 7 month timeframe.

The Solution

Deecon designed a programme to facilitate Whitbread’s objectives and identify a new contractor. Our strategic procurement approach included three rounds of submissions and two clarifications sessions, designed to drive commercial competition and improve technical responses.

Deecon leveraged our expertise in the construction sector to review and gauge interest from 20 potential contractors. We also held early engagement workshops and collaborative dialogue sessions with Whitbread’s two incumbent contractors, to develop our understanding and knowledge of their supply chain’s capabilities.

Deecon worked alongside Whitbread to tailor our toolkit of procurement documentation, including a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ), technical questionnaire, commercial pricing model and JCT framework contract. Our commercial pricing model required tenderers to price over 500 activities including their associated overhead costs. This provided Whitbread with full visibility of spend.

Following pre-qualification, Deecon invited 9 tenderers to the ITT. The tenderers were required to complete the technical questionnaire and three rounds of commercial submissions.

Deecon completed the commercial evaluation utilising our bespoke consolidation engine, Deecon Core. Deecon Core is able to consolidate and analyse pricing points across multiple submission rounds. This enables us to validate costings and produce bespoke real-time analytical comparisons. The technical evaluation was completed by Whitbread, and the scores were moderated by Deecon to ensure best procurement practices were adopted.

Commercial feedback was presented across two rounds of clarification sessions, enabling the tenderers to present their most competitive offers and identify innovative suggestions for mutual value-based initiatives. This proved effective, with commercial submissions reducing by ~10% from initial to final round.

Deecon evaluated the Best and Final Offer (BAFO) submissions from each tenderer and recommended the two incumbents and an additional contractor in a comprehensive Final Recommendation Report. The recommendations were based on the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) process.

The Results

Deecon lowered the incumbent Contractors rates by ~3% and awarded to an additional Contractor, whose rates are ~6% lower than the existing rate. The process resulted in a multi-million pound annual saving, based on historic spend.

Deecon also re-negotiated a more favourable rebate agreement with one of the incumbent contractors, so that it was no longer conditional on receiving first choice of sites.

In addition, by implementing a structured procurement process that follows industry best-practice, Deecon provided Whitbread with a toolkit of tender documentation, which can be utilised across their procurement function.