Decision details

To agree the procurement process for review of Bailiff for council tax and business rates, debt collection, parking services and arrest warrant services.

Contracts for bailiff, debt collection, and arrest warrants council tax, business rates, parking services and sundry debt were awarded following a tendering exercise in 2008.  Cabinet Member - Corporate Resources on 12 November 2008 approved the recommendation to award Jacobs, Equita and Philips Bailiff companies a contract for these services.  Jacobs were awarded the contract for Arrest Warrant Services. The contract came into effect on 1 April 2009 for a period of three years with an option to review annually and extend up to a maximum of 5 years. A request for Quotation for the provision of bailiff services of secondary collection was undertaken for the period 1 April 2012 to the 31 March 2013 plus an option of one year extension. This contract was awarded to Newlyn PLC and Rossendales.

All contracts will expire on the 31 March 2014.

The Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Corporate Finance and ICT on the recommended provision of bailiff services for the recovery of debt owed to the Council and the proposed procurement process to be undertaken for the provision of bailiffs and debt collection services.

Decision Made:

That:

(1)     approval be given to the provision of bailiff and debt collection services, as set out in paragraph 4 of the report;

(2)     approval be given to the procurement process of a mini competition under the Rotherham MBC Bailiff and Debt Collection framework agreement;

(3)     the Head of Corporate Finance and ICT be authorised to award the contract for Bailiff and Debt Collection Services and the contract for Warrants of Arrest Without Bail; and

(4)     the Head of Legal Services be authorised to draw up the appropriate contracts to run for a period of 3 years with annual options to review up to a maximum of 5 years.

Reasons for Decision:

The existing contracts were due to expire 31March 2014.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

1.         The Council could conduct an EU compliant tender exercise, approaching the whole market directly. This option would require a much longer timescale as the tender opportunity would need to be advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). Further, the volume of bids submitted is unpredictable, so in addition to managing a longer advertising period, officers would find that the evaluation of bids also takes a much longer period of time. This would prove problematic as the existing contract expires on 31 March 2014.  Therefore this option had been rejected as a high risk due to lack of flexibility.

2.         The Pro 5 Purchasing consortium group had commenced a piece of work to secure an EU compliant framework for the provision of Bailiff Services. This work was headed by Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation; however this framework was not yet available as the procurement exercise had not yet been concluded. Waiting for the framework to be concluded would cause difficulties in meeting the contract renewal date of 1 April 2014.