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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:

Contract Value £

Delegated decision or Resolution of:

Total Contract value of up to £99,999.

Relevant Head of Service (or such officers as nominated by the Head of Service in writing) should have delegated authority to award the contract.

Total Contract value of between £100,000 and £499,999.

Relevant Head of Service (following the recommendation of the s151 Officer and Head of Legal Services) should have delegated authority to award the contract following:

(a)      a written report by the relevant Head of Service (or such officers as nominated by the Head of Service in writing) had been provided and approved by the Procurement Board; and

(b)      the report had been included as an “item for information” for Corporate Board.

For contracts exceeding £500,000 in total value and up to £2.5million per annum.

The award of these contracts should require a “key decision” (as defined in Part 5.1.1 of the Constitution) delegated to be taken by the relevant Head of Service in consultation with the relevant Portfolio Holder (following recommendation by the relevant Corporate Director, s151 Officer and Head of Legal Services) to award the contract provided:

(a)      a written report by the relevant Head of Service (or such officers as nominated by the Head of Service in writing) had been provided and approved by the Procurement Board; and

(b)      the report had been included as an “Item for information” for Corporate Board and the Operations Board.

(c)      such decision had been made in accordance with Parts 5.3 and 5.4 of the Constitution.

For contracts exceeding £2.5million per annum

These contracts would require a key decision of the Executive following recommendation by the s151 Officer and Head of Legal Services.  Executive would receive a report from the relevant officer either recommending the contract be awarded or to seek delegated authority for the relevant Head of Service to award the contract in consultation with the relevant Portfolio Holder, s151 Officer and the Head of Legal Services.


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: