Agenda item

To note and comment the Cabinet report on the proposal to outsource the Concierge Service.

The Service Manager for ICT & BS, C Ferrigi introduced the report going to the next Cabinet meeting on the outsourcing of the Concierge Service. This came to this meeting for any comments the Select Committee may wish to make to be passed on to the Cabinet.

Due to various operational and resource challenges, the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) agreed to explore the outsourcing of the Concierge Service at the Civic Offices, by formally going out to tender, to then review bids and make a decision as to whether the Council proceeds to the formal stages of outsourcing.

Out of four contractors that showed an interest, only one of them, PCS Group, put forward a bid. The bid was a strong, tailored and detailed response, scoring 96.5/100 during the evaluation process.

Based on a three-year contract, the costs for year 1 and 2 were lower than our current operating costs and year 3 was higher. The savings made in the first 2 years offset the increase in the third year. If the service remains in house, costs will increase year on year due to salary increases and the cost of the existing contracts for out of hours and daytime cover.

The committee asked what would happen in year 4. They were told that officers would look at the contract every year and if it worked well, they could extend it and may include the welcome desk into the contract.

The committee asked why only one company choose to put in a bid and noted that what you would lose would be the background knowledge that the council’s current staff had. The contract would be managed by one of our team managers and the existing employees would be TUPE’d across, so we would still retain their knowledge. As for contractors, one of the companies thought that it would be too much for them to handle. And the other was more security focused.

The committee wanted to ensure anyone taking this job would be thoroughly trained and asked if there would be a training handbook that could be referred to; especially for the relief teams who take over at night. They were told that this was something they needed to think about on how this would work.

The committee noted that the company could come back to us should their pension liability exceed the figure they have budgeted for. Have they put a reasonable figure in their quote, otherwise, they could come back with any amount. They were told that they had not put in a figure, but officers had assessed the risks along with some employee relations issues they had at present and were comfortable there was not a risk there. The committee asked if officers knew at what point a figure would be put in, a few months or a few years later. The officer was not sure but said she would find out and put it in the minutes.

ACTION: to confirm when a figure would be given.

The committee noted that currently the council used a contractor to fill in gaps. Were they asked to put in a bid for the service. They were told that yes, they were asked but chose not to. Asked what would happen if one person was not available out of the two officers we had. They were told that the PCS group carried out time and motion studies and we were told that we only required two officers; the difference would be the overnight resource who would carry out security work. We also have some resilience in the support team that carries out some background for the Concierge service.

Asked if the PCS group had experience with other local authority’s, officers said that they were not aware of any. Also asked was, could cover be had at an hourly basis or did the council have to block book for an eight-hour shift. Officers said that they not looked into this, but they had budgeted for eight-hour blocks for this year.

Asked what the Select Committee would like to pass on to the Cabinet on this proposal, the committee said they wanted the current staff to be kept up to date on this; that the people coming to be trained properly on the ways of the council; and that there be a continuity of staff.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee noted and commented on the outsourcing of the concierge service.