Contract to ACUE regarding TT Races

Summary

The request sought details on the research justifying a non-competitive contract with ACUE for the TT Races and the associated yearly costs. The Department for Enterprise disclosed that ACUE is the only qualified organizer due to licensing and experience, and revealed the 2024 contract value and specific payment to ACUE.

Key Facts

• The rights to the TT Races are owned by the Auto Cycle Union (ACU), not the Isle of Man Government.
• The Department holds a license from the ACU permitting them to run the races until 2033.
• ACUE was appointed as the race organizer in 2008 and is considered the only organization with the required experience and resilience.
• An exemption from the standard tender process was granted by the Treasury Board due to the unique nature of the service provider.
• The 2024 agreement includes services such as marshalling, medical helicopter provision, and course setup.

Data Disclosed

• 2024-04-26
• 2024-05-20
• 2033
• 2008
• £100,000
• £1.65m
• £371k

Original Request

By way of the Government Procurement Policy 2017, under the heading of `Non-competitive Action` it states:- "The proposed supplier is the only one known to provide the goods and/or services required. Adequate research must have been carried out to clearly and objectively demonstrate that this is the case and there are no satisfactory alternatives." 1. Please provide details of the adequate research as described in the above paragraph. 2. Please provide the yearly cost to the Government of this contract. As there was no tender process there can be no commercial confidentiality .

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Freedom of Information Co-ordinator 1st Floor, St Georges Court Upper Church Street, Douglas Isle of Man IM1 1EX

Telephone: (01624 686400) Website: https://www.iomdfenterprise.im/

Our ref: 3826405 20 May 2024

Dear ###

We write further to your request, received 26 April 2024, which states:

"By way of the Government Procurement Policy 2017, under the heading of Non- competitive Action it states:-

"The proposed supplier is the only one known to provide the goods and/or services required. Adequate research must have been carried out to clearly and objectively demonstrate that this is the case and there are no satisfactory alternatives."

1. Please provide details of the adequate research as described in the above paragraph.

2. Please provide the yearly cost to the Government of this contract. As there was no tender process there can be no commercial confidentiality."

Please see the response below:

1) Please provide details of the adequate research that must have been carried out. The rights to the TT Races are owned by the Auto Cycle Union (“the ACU”), they are not owned by the Isle of Man Government. The Department holds a licence from the ACU which permits the Department to run the TT Races until 2033. The licence outlines when the races may be run and stipulates that the Department may only appoint an ACU affiliated club to act as the race organiser for the event.

In addition to this, the Road Races Act 2016 also requires that in order to obtain an authorisation to use public roads for racing, the Race Organiser must satisfy the Department for Infrastructure that the organiser is competent to organise the racing propose in the application.

Auto Cycle Union Events (“ACUE”) as an ACU affiliated club were appointed as the Department’s race organiser in 2008 and have acted in that capacity since this time.

The Department is content that ACUE are currently the only organisation with the level of experience and resilience required to run the event to the standards required. The Department considers this to meet any adequate research requirements.

The Department must then comply with the requirements of Treasury’s Financial Regulations in regards to the procurement of services, in that any service provision which is likely to exceed £100,000 must be tendered.

The Department may seek an exemption from complying with the tender process, if it believes that there is only one provider capable of providing the services. In the case of the TT Race Organiser procurement, this exemption may only be granted by the Treasury Board due to the value of the services contracted, this exemption was granted to the Department prior to entering into the agreement.

2) Please provide the yearly cost to the Government of this contract. The agreement with the ACUE is a new agreement for 2024 and requires ACUE to provide to the Department a number of services which the Department would previously have procured itself, including but not limited to, marshalling services, medical helicopter provision, round course medical services and course set up costs.

The overall value of the agreement for 2024 is £1.65m, the portion of that agreement paid to ACUE for their role as Race Organiser totals £371k, which includes the costs for the various officials and officers required to manage the organising of the event.

Please quote the reference number 3826405 in any future communications.

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I will now close your request as of this date.

This response took a Department for Enterprise Officer 3.5 hours to research and complete.