Issue - meetings

The report and appendices are attached.

Nic Vine introduced the report concerning Contract Standing Orders. The committee was informed that the review had not resulted in any substantial change to limits for authorisation or decision making. Rather the opportunity had been taken to simplify the language used and set out the process as a lifecycle. Thresholds for quotes have been increased. The threshold for one quote has been raised to £25,000 and that for three quotes to £100,000. This is in line with practices followed by other local authorities.  

As part of the tidy up an effort had been made to remove gender-based pronouns.  

With reference to paragraph 1.5 on page 302 of the document pack Councillor Bill Gifford asked why this review had not been delayed given that Contract Standing Orders will require a further review once post EU transition procurement is known. In response the Committee was informed that as the Council’s Constitution is also being reviewed the opportunity had been taken now to review the Contract Standing Orders element of it. The Council has taken the opportunity to respond to the government consultation on post EU procurement.  

Regarding paragraphs 10.3 and 10.4 on page 324 Councillor Parminder Singh Birdi suggested that there appeared to be a contradiction. Paragraph 10.3 requires that the criterion for the award of a contract shall be the “most economically advantageous”. These may include environmental considerations, aesthetic and functional characteristics, social value and others. Paragraph 10.4 states that selection criteria, “must not include non-commercial considerations”. 

By way of clarification, Nic Vine gave an example of a non-commercial consideration this being that the Council has worked with a company before. Andy Felton added that if the Council can add vale to the local community then this is a non-commercial consideration. Every matter considered has to be quantified in the assessment criteria.  

Regarding environmental criteria the Committee was informed that the Commissioning Support Unit and Procurement Team are working on a procurement strategy. This strategy will be considered by the Resources and Fire &Rescue Committee prior to going before Cabinet. As yet there is no date for when this will happen.  

Councillor Chris Kettle asked how many contracts will fall into the £25,000 bracket for quotes. Andy Felton agreed to find this figure out as he did not have it to hand.  

Councillor Chris Kettle also asked concerning the publication of details of transactions over £500. He was informed that although there are many hundreds of such transactions the mechanism for recorded and reporting them is straightforward. The purpose behind the exercise is to provide local suppliers with an opportunity to see what the Council is spending on.

Resolved:

That the revised Contract Standing Orders attached as Appendix 1 are recommended to Cabinet and to Council for approval.