Issue - meetings

(Housing Portfolio Holder) To consider the attached report (C-022-2009/10).

(1)        That the requirements of Contract Standing Orders C6 – C12 be waived to allow the Housing Directorate to continue to:

(a)        use specialist contractors to undertake a variety of specialist works for the Housing Directorate without undertaking the full tendering processes required by Contract Standing Orders, subject to - in respect of all individual jobs exceeding £1,000 in value - either:

(i)         quotes being obtained; or

(ii)        works benchmarked and let based on the current schedule of rates used by the Building Maintenance Works Unit; and

(b)        use the specialist service providers listed in the report for services in excess of £10,000 without competition, for the reasons given in the report; and

(2)        That the use of specialist contractors and suppliers by the Housing Directorate in 2008/09, where Contract Standing Orders C6 – C12 were not followed, as previously agreed by the Cabinet and for the reasons given in the report, be noted.

In the absence of the Housing Portfolio Holder, the Director of Housing presented a report on the waiver of Contract Standing Orders for Housing contracts.

The Cabinet were informed of the need to continue to have waivers of Contract Standing Orders for specialist repairs work in excess of £50,000 in value, for which alternative competition arrangements had been used, and for suppliers of other specialist services in excess of £10,000. The Cabinet was requested to agree to the continuation of the waiver of the relevant Contract Standing Orders and to note the use of such specialist contractors and suppliers in 2008/9. The Director highlighted the matrix that had been tabled at the meeting, indicating the locality of each of the sub-contractors. In line with the Council’s preference for local business to benefit from Council contracts, the location of a sub-contractor would be a consideration for future contracts.

Decision:

(1)        That the requirements of Contract Standing Orders C6 – C12 be waived to allow the Housing Directorate to continue to:

(a)        use specialist contractors to undertake a variety of specialist works for the Housing Directorate without undertaking the full tendering processes required by Contract Standing Orders, subject to - in respect of all individual jobs exceeding £1,000 in value - either:

(i)         quotes being obtained; or

(ii)        works benchmarked and let based on the current schedule of rates used by the Building Maintenance Works Unit; and

(b)        use the specialist service providers listed in the report for services in excess of £10,000 without competition, for the reasons given in the report; and

(2)        That the use of specialist contractors and suppliers by the Housing Directorate in 2008/09, where Contract Standing Orders C6 – C12 were not followed, as previously agreed by the Cabinet and for the reasons given in the report, be noted.

Reasons for Decisions:

With 16 Framework Agreements in place, and plans in place to let a further 6 contracts, expenditure with contractors not in contract with the Council had reduced and would continue to reduce. Until such time as all repairs work that were not undertaken by the Building Maintenance Works Unit were let through formal contracts, Contract Standing Order C6 (Contracts Exceeding £50,000) needed to be waived and regular progress reports on expenditure with contractors presented to the Cabinet.

It was considered necessary and appropriate for the Council to use other specialist service providers, for services in excess of £10,000, without undertaking competitive tendering.

Other Options Considered and Rejected:

To reduce expenditure with each contractor and/or supplier to a level that complied with Contract Standing Orders. However, this would mean having to spread the work out between more contractors and/or suppliers, which would be more time consuming and probably lead to higher costs for the Council.

To undertake formal competitive tendering for works in excess of £10,000 and £50,000 as appropriate, but that would severely affect repair response times, which were already too long.