Issue - meetings

(Director of Communities) To consider the report on the Procurement Rules, adopted by Council in 2016, which details the review undertaken by officers after one year’s operation and the Appendix, which identifies the proposed changes.

The Director of Communities, A Hall, reported on the outcome of the 12-month review of the Council’s Procurement Rules. The new set of Procurement Rules, which replaced the Council’s former Contract of Standing Orders, was adopted by the Council in April 2016. A review had been carried out after a year’s operation in accordance with good practice by the Procurement Rules Working Party (PRWP). Its recommendations were considered by the Corporate Governance Group, who acknowledged overall that the introduction of the new Procurement Rules had been very successful. The Working Party’s review had identified a few minor changes, which were summarised in the report circulated with the agenda.

Councillor C C Pond asked about a Spending Control Officer (SCO), to which A Hall replied that this was a generic term. The Council employed many SCOs and the term referred to a person who was responsible for ensuring the compliance of the Procurement Rules for a specific section / area.

Councillor M Sartin queried the Table of Tendering Requirements for Nos. of Tenders, Returns and Openings, that a minor correction to the last two columns of the Contract Category 5, be made to read, “As 1-4 above” and not “As 1-5 above”, which was noted.

Agreed:

(1)       That the outcome of the 12-month review of the Council’s Procurement Rules by the PRWP be noted;

(2)       That the proposed new Procurement Rules, shown as track changes in the Appendix to these notes with the minor correction above, be submitted to Council for adoption at the meeting on 22 February 2018; and

(3)       That no changes be made to the Total Contract Values thresholds set out in Appendix 1 of the Procurement Rules.