Agenda, decisions and minutes

(Head of Research and Democratic Services) To declare interests in any item on this agenda.

Pursuant to the Council’s Code of Member Conduct, Councillor Ms S Stavrou declared a personal interest in the following item of the agenda, by virtue of being a member of Waltham Abbey Town Council and Town Mayor and had been involved in discussions with the District Council about street cleansing in Waltham Abbey. The Councillor had determined that her interest was not prejudicial and she would remain in the meeting for the consideration of the item:

• List of Contractors for Inclusion in Waste Management Select List

(Finance, Performance Management and Corporate Support Services Portfolio Holder) To consider the attached report (C/061/2006-07).

(1)            That, subject to contract negotiations, the tender from Computacenter UK Ltd in the sum of £546,320 (whole life cost over six years) for the procurement and implementation of a replacement Local Taxation and Benefits ICT system be accepted;

(2)            That, delegated authority be granted to the Head of Finance to undertake contract negotiations with Computacenter UK Ltd;

(3)            That, in order to supplement the existing IEG grant funding, a capital growth bid in the sum of £69,000 for 2007/08 be made;

(4)            That, for the appointment of four clerical support officers (Grade 5) on 18-month fixed term contracts, the following revenue DDF growth bids be made:

(a)            £80,000 for 2007/08; and

(b)            £40,000 for 2008/09; and

(5)            That, for the provision of maintenance and remote support, the following revenue CSB growth bids be made:

(a)            £16,050 for 2007/08;

(b)            £15,929 for 2008/09; and

(c)            £3,547 for 2009/10.

The Assistant Head of Finance (Revenues) presented a report regarding the replacement of the Local Taxation and Benefits ICT System. On 4 September 2006 Cabinet had approved that, in accordance with the Corporate ICT Strategy, the ICT system for Local Taxation and Benefits (Orbis) should be replaced. Quotations were obtained using the catalist system managed by the Office of Government Commerce.

The indicative contract start date was 1 April 2007. The implementation timetable was for the National Non-Domestic Rates system to be live by 14 January 2008 and the Council Tax and Benefits systems to be live by 1 August 2008. The current Orbis license expired on 30 June 2008 and the final go-live date required a contract extension, which would exceed 3 months.

Expressions of interest from the relevant companies listed within Catalist were sought and the following five responses were recieved:

·         Computacenter (UK) Ltd

·         Dell Corporation Ltd

·         Northgate Information Solutions UK Ltd

·         PC World Business; and

·         Probrand Ltd (The IT Index)

After a tendering exercise for the contract the Council received completed tenders from: -

·         Computacenter (UK) Ltd

·         Northgate Information Solutions UK Ltd; and

·         PC World Business

The tender evaluation had identified Computacenter (UK) Limited as the preferred option, due to the following results:

·         In the Council’s evaluation criteria it had scored the highest;

·         The Capita Solution was the preferred solution in terms of quality for both Local Taxation and Benefits;

·         The system was equal highest in terms of the technical evaluation; and

·         Capita was the only company with experience of converting data from the Council’s current system making it the option with the lowest risk.

RESOLVED:

(1)     That, subject to contract negotiations, the tender from Computacenter (UK) Limited in the sum of £546,320 (whole life cost over six years) for the procurement and implementation of a replacement Local Taxation and Benefits ICT system be approved;

(2)     That, delegated authority to the Head of Finance to undertake contract negotiations with Computacenter UK Ltd be granted;

(3)     That, in order to supplement the existing IEG grant funding, a capital growth bid in the sum of £69,000 for 2007/08 be made; and

(4)     That, for the appointment of four clerical support officers (Grade 5) on 18-month fixed term contracts, the following revenue DDF growth bids be made:

(a)            £80,000 for 2007/08; and

(b)            £40,000 for 2008/09; and

(5)     That, for the provision of maintenance and remote support, the following revenue CSB growth bids be made:

(a)            £16,050 for 2007/08;

(b)            £15,929 for 2008/09; and

(c)         £3,547 for 2009/10.

Reasons for Decision:

Computacenter (UK) Limited was the preferred option and was supported by the results of the tender evaluation process. To achieve a successful conversion of data it was essential that sufficient resource was provided for the project and the temporary appointment of the additional clerical posts would achieve this.

Other Options Considered and Rejected:

To have selected one of the two alternative tenders, although to have done so would have contradicted the detailed evaluation process.

To have not proceeded with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 122.

Exclusion: To consider whether, under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press should be excluded from the meeting for the items of business set out below on grounds that they will involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the following paragraph(s) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act (as amended) or are confidential under Section 100(A)(2):

The Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, which came into effect on 1 March 2006, requires the Council to consider whether maintaining the exemption listed above outweighs the potential public interest in disclosing the information. Any member who considers that this test should be applied to any currently exempted matter on this agenda should contact the proper officer at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.

Confidential Items Commencement: Paragraph 9 of the Council Procedure Rules contained in the Constitution require:

(1)        All business of the Council requiring to be transacted in the presence of the press and public to be completed by 10.00 p.m. at the latest.

(2)        At the time appointed under (1) above, the Chairman shall permit the completion of debate on any item still under consideration, and at his or her discretion, any other remaining business whereupon the Council shall proceed to exclude the public and press.

(3)        Any public business remaining to be dealt with shall be deferred until after the completion of the private part of the meeting, including items submitted for report rather than decision.

Background Papers:  Paragraph 8 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules of the Constitution define background papers as being documents relating to the subject matter of the report which in the Proper Officer's opinion:

(a)            disclose any facts or matters on which the report or an important part of the report is based;  and

(b)        have been relied on to a material extent in preparing the report and does not include published works or those which disclose exempt or confidential information (as defined in Rule 10) and in respect of executive reports, the advice of any political advisor.

Inspection of background papers may be arranged by contacting the officer responsible for the item.

RESOLVED:

That the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the items of business set out below on the grounds that they would involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972:

            Agenda                                                                      Exempt Information

Item No                   Subject                                 Paragraph Number

5                    List of Contractors for 3

Inclusion in Waste

Management Select List

(Customer Services, Media, Communications and ICT Portfolio Holder) To consider the attached report (C/100/2006-07).

(1)        That the following select list of contractors for the waste management contract be agreed:

(a)        for all four lots (refuse collection, recycling, street cleansing & weed spraying):

            (i)            Accord plc;

            (ii)            Veolia UK Ltd;

            (iii)            Cory Environmental Ltd;

            (iv)            Enterprise MRS; and

            (v)            SITA UK Ltd;

(b)        for weed spraying only:

            (i)            Languard Ltd;

(c)        for street cleansing only:

(i)            Connaught Environmental Ltd;

(2)        That the following applications be rejected:

            (i)            Connaught Environmental Ltd;

            (ii)            Focsa Services (UK) Ltd;

            (iii)            Grosvenor;

            (iv)            Singh (UK) Ltd; and

            (v)            Verdant Group plc

The Portfolio Holder for Environmental Protection presented a report regarding the approval of a list of contractors to form a waste management select list. As part of the procurement process for the new waste management contract, in accordance with the EU procurement rules, advertisements had been placed in the European Journal inviting companies to seek inclusion on the Council’s list. The contract had been split into four lots, and companies could bid for either the entire service or its constituent parts.

The four lots were:

• Refuse collection and recycling;
• Street cleansing;
• Bulky waste collections; and
• Weed spraying.

With the assistance of the Essex Procurement Hub, the contract had been designed as a framework agreement. This would enable other Councils to swiftly draw up a similar contract with the successful company without the need for a formal procurement process, if it was considered beneficial.

Pre-Qualification Questionnaires (PQQs) were sent out to the following eleven companies:

• Accord Operations Ltd;
• Cleanaway/Veolia;
• Connaught Environmental Ltd;
• Cory Environmental Municipal Services Ltd;
• Enterprise MRS;
• Focsa Services (UK) Ltd;
• Grosvenor;
• Languard Ltd;
• Singh (UK) Ltd;
• Sita UK Ltd; and
• Verdant Group Plc

The PQQs required the companies to provide a range of detailed information on matters such as technical ability, health and safety, financial standing etc and also required them to provide reference details of existing and previous contracts.

The returned PQQs had been carefully evaluated by technical, legal, finance and other officers to determine whether the companies should be invited to tender for the waste management contract. Officers had been mindful of the circumstances which led to the demise of the previous contract, where experience and financial standing had been called into question.

Only one company, Languard Ltd, had limited its application to just one lot, that being weed spraying. All other companies had sought inclusion for all four lots. This had resulted in a number of applications being rejected because the companies had been unable to support, either through supplied documentation or via references, their ability to undertake all four service areas. However, where it had been clear that a company was unable to provide some, they had been recommended for inclusion based on that premise. Whilst this would make the final assessment process more complex, it did ensure compliance with the EU procurement rules.

RESOLVED:

(1)            That the following select list of contractors for the waste management contract be agreed:

(a)            for all four lots (refuse collection, recycling, street cleansing & weed spraying):

            (i)            Accord plc;

            (ii)            Veolia UK Ltd;

            (iii)            Cory Environmental Ltd;

            (iv)            Enterprise MRS; and

            (v)            SITA UK Ltd;

(b)            for weed spraying only:

            (i)            Languard Ltd;

(c)            for street cleansing only:

(i)            Connaught Environmental Ltd;

(2)            That the following applications be rejected:

            (i)            Connaught Environmental Ltd (for all matters save street cleansing)

            (ii)            Focsa Services (UK) Ltd;

            (iii)            Grosvenor;

            (iv)            Singh (UK) Ltd; and

            (v)            Verdant Group plc

Statement in Support of Recommended Action:

The EU procurement rules required that unless there were extenuating circumstances, at least 5 tenders would have  ...  view the full minutes text for item 124.