Agenda item

Question to the Leader of the Council from Councillor Parr.

The Mayor invited questions from Members of the Council under Standing Order 9.

A question was put by Councillor Parr to the Leader of the Council in the following terms:

“It is pleasing to note that our recent collaboration agreement with Newark & Sherwood District Council and Rushcliffe Borough Council is moving towards greater joint procurement between the three authorities. Clearly with the financial constraints placed on all authorities at this time it is imperative that we maximise the potential savings that joint procurement may offer. Could the Leader of the Council, with his Finance Portfolio in mind, report to the Council on the following:

1.      Is there a breakdown of procurement costs readily available to Members for 2013/2014?

2.      Is there a single lead member and Senior officer responsible for procurement issues?

3.      How are Members generally involved in reviewing and scrutinising procurement?”

The Leader provided the following response, which had been circulated at the meeting:

Is there a breakdown of procurement costs readily available to Members for 2013-14?

There is a joint procurement arrangement between Gedling Borough Council and Rushcliffe Borough Council, whereby the Procurement Officer is employed over 4 days and shared equally between the two authorities.

The cost to GBC of this arrangement for 2013-14 was £21,074.08, which includes salary, pension and NI costs and also subscription fees for European Procurement Advice (2012-13 costs were £21,020.06).

These costs are identified and reviewed each year as part of the annual budget processes of the Council.

Is there a single lead member and Senior officer responsible for procurement issues?

Member responsibility rests with the Leader under the Finance portfolio.  Officer responsibility rests with Vince Rimmington: Service Manager Audit & Asset Management for corporate overview and advice as well as taking forward any strategic procurement activities including joint working proposals.

Individual Service managers have direct responsibility for procurement in their specific management areas; when undertaking procurement activity the Council has a series of rules, regulations and guidance for Managers to follow in order to ensure value for money is achieved.

How are Members generally involved in reviewing and scrutinising procurement?

Members themselves agree the rules for procurement and these are contained in both the ‘Contract Standing Orders’ and ‘Financial Regulations’ which form part of the overall constitution of the Council. In addition Member’s periodically agree the details of the Council’s Procurement Strategy.

Initially where the council undertakes a significant procurement exercise the initial method of tender is agree by the Executive.

Where formal tenders are received (usually in excess of £50,000), the relevant cabinet Member (portfolio Holder) and the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee receive notification of the time and place appointed for the tender opening.  NB: Any member of the Council who wishes to attend may also attend.

Where a tender is within budgetary provision previously approved by the Council, this may be accepted on the basis of lowest cost (or highest income) by the relevant Corporate Director.

Tenders not within budgetary provision are referred to Cabinet for approval.

A tender other than the lowest cost can only be accepted by authority of the appropriate Cabinet Member.

Where it is considered that procurement is carried out that is not in accordance with the Contract Standing Orders then a waiver is sought before a procurement exercise can be carried out. Waivers to standing orders can only be agreed by a decision of full council.

On an ongoing basis procurement issues may be discussed by Service Managers/Directors at departmental level with relevant portfolio holders as part of their regular operational briefings. In addition scrutiny committee may review this activity and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered an update from Mark Kimberley regarding the Procurement Strategy on 7^th October 2013.  The minutes of the meeting concerning the questions raised and responses given are attached to this note.

Extract from Overview and Scrutiny Committee – 7 October 2013

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Mark Kimberley, Corporate Director, who, in the absence of Councillor J Clarke, responded to questions from Members on the following elements of the Leader’s Portfolio:

·         The Council’s procurement strategy

·         Co - location arrangements with partners

Questions from Members and responses received:

1.    How successfully are we contracting with local suppliers?

Members were informed that whilst the Council is not empowered through its Standing Orders to target local suppliers, it does have a duty to achieve best value. The benefit to local suppliers is assured through on-going performance monitoring, which gives specific weighting to the payment of local suppliers within 10 days of receipt of invoice.

Details of performance monitoring data circulated to Members demonstrated that around 42% of the Council’s suppliers are local and a 10 day payment rate of 96.21% is achieved. A survey recently undertaken using the creditors system indicated a 99.1% satisfaction rate.

The Corporate Director explained that larger contracts are likely to be with national/multi-national organisations.

2.   Are we still sharing a procurement officer post with Rushcliffe, and does the role bring savings to the Council?

The Corporate Director confirmed that the shared service arrangement is still in place and that the role is predominantly concerned with ensuring our compliance with Standing Orders and EU regulations and completion of returns to National Government. Additionally the officer has an advisory role on cost saving framework agreements, such as the national mobile phone agreement.

The Corporate director further explained that any targeting of local suppliers would depend on the thresholds reached by the contract as set out in the Council’s Standing Orders – for contracts under 10k, it had been custom and practice to obtain 3 local quotes, whereas for contracts over 50k the Council is required to advertise nationally. For contracts of over 130k full compliance with EU regulations would be required.

3.  Would we target a local supplier in cases where an area of work is likely to attract a local supplier?

Members were informed that EU regulations differentiate between works contracts of 3/4m in value and service contracts of 130k in value. The Council’s Contract Standing Orders do not specify, which in practice means that building contract works are taken through quite a complex route. Members were informed that whilst there are no current plans to re-examine this situation, there is potential scope to do so in future.