Agenda item

A presentation will be provided outlining procurement activities.

The Board received a presentation and dvd from Lorraine Cox, Head of Procurement which:-

 

·        Explained that the Procurement Centre of Excellence had been set up in April 2010;

 

·        Set out what had been done internally with Officers, Members, establishing The Chest and the cross Council support;

 

·        Detailed the rules and the law relating to the financial thresholds i.e. £1k to £50k – minimum of 3 written quotes, £50k to £1m – formal tender exercise and £1m+ - Executive Board approval then formal tender;

 

·        Outlined Halton Borough Council’s Revenue Spend Profile 2009/10;

 

·        Set out what had been done so far externally i.e. Partnership with Halton Chamber of Commerce and Local Businesses Engagement;

 

·        Highlighted the engagement with businesses – that there had been 349 attendees, covering 248 local business and that 65 people had attended more than one event and that the attendees had felt that it had been a valuable event;

 

·        Outlined The Chest registration – that there had been a 33% increase since June 2010, from 279 to 415 as at 28February 2011 and 136 new local businesses had registered;

 

·        Set out the requests for a quote via the Chest by Halton Borough Council since April 2010 to February 2011;

 

·        Outlined the formal tenders via The Chest since April 2010 i.e. 13 tenders (over £50k) and 109 tendered (8% were local businesses); and

 

·        Outlined the next steps in the procurement process.

 

The following comments arose from the presentation:-

 

·        It was noted that the Authority were not trading internal service provision but challenging the spend via the private sector;

 

·        It was suggested that as the majority of Members were school governors they receive further details of The Chest so enable them to influence the school procurement process.  In response it was reported that Fairfield Infant School were taking part in the pilot and a briefing note on this would be circulated to Members of the Board.

 

·        It was noted that 3 staff were fully qualified members of the Institute of Purchase and Supply and the remaining staff were currently working towards it via a fast track programme and distance learning;

 

·        It was suggested that the £50k internal threshold could be increased in line with the European Union amount to £156,022.  In response it was reported that work was being undertaken with the Legal Department to look at sustainable approaches to procurement and to amend Procurement Standing Orders to incorporate increased thresholds;

 

·        In respect of travel and subsistence, it was noted that the centralised system did not generate additional costs;

 

·        The importance of raising the threshold and promote new local businesses was noted;

 

·        In relation to contracts and front end savings versus rebates, it was noted that safeguards were built into the contract to ensure the best deal was obtained.  It was also noted that the Council had an excellent record of paying small and medium enterprises (SME’s) within 10 working days and this could be highlighted when negotiating a contract.

 

RESOLVED: That

 

(1)                     the presentation be received;

 

(2)                     Lorraine Cox be thanked for her informative presentation;

 

(3)                     The Board recommend that the Executive Board target sustainable approaches to procurement; and

 

(4)                     the comments raised be noted.