Agenda item
Changes to the Constitution - Part 11 (Contract Rules of Procedure) (C3011(b))
Purpose: To review and if appropriate amend part 11 (Contract Rules of Procedure) following a request from the Procurement Board to do so.
Minutes:
The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 8) which requested a review of Part 11 (Contract Rules of Procedure) following a request from the Procurement Board to do so.
A number of changes had been made to Part 11 of the Council’s Constitution (Contract Rules of Procedure) in May 2015 to ensure that the Council was acting in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The changes included the setting of thresholds for delegated decision making. The revised rules had been in place since May 2015 and Officers had now been asked to amend the thresholds by both Corporate Board and Procurement Board to reduce the number of contracts which required Executive approval. Under paragraph 11.4.4 transactions falling outside of the Capital Programme (i.e. revenue) and where the relevant Head of Service did not have delegated authority to award the contract an approval or a resolution of the Executive was required.
The changes set out in the report mainly affected those contracts over the £500k threshold, however, some minor changes to the other thresholds were required to provide clarity. The proposed amendments (in red text) were as follows:
Councillor Alan macro did not support the changes
as he was concerned about transparency and the revised thresholds
being proposed. Moira Fraser stressed that all key decisions taken
by the Council needed to appear on the Council’s Forward Plan
and the decision could not be made until at least 28 days public
notice had been given that such a decision was to be made.
Therefore, if the amended contract thresholds were agreed by
Members then decisions made by Officers under delegated authority
would still have to be included on the Forward Plan within the
prescribed deadlines and would also require the publication of a
delegated officer decision notice which would then be subject to
the Council’s call-in procedures. Andy walker also stressed
that Procurement Board would continue to monitor activity and would
oversee all activity.
Moira Fraser summarised that the driver for these amendments was to reduce the number of reports going through the Executive asking for approval to go out to tender in relation to a contract and that further delegation to Officers should be put in place. It was noted that this process would place more emphasis on the Procurement Board.
RESOLVED that a recommendation would be made to Council to agree the proposed amendments to part 11 (Contract Rules of Procedure) and to agree that the changes will come into effect on the 11th December 2015.
(Councillor Alan Macro requested that his opposition to this decision be recorded)
Supporting documents: