Issue - meetings

Report of the Head of Locality Services - Commissioned

The Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Locality Services Commissioned in relation to approval to invite tenders through the appropriate procurement route for the provision of transport technical support services to assist in the preparation of business cases, funding bids and the development of transport investment projects.

Decision Made:

That the Cabinet :

(1)      approves the tender process to procure the provision of transport technical support  services, to be published on The Chest using an OJEU Open Tender process, as outlined in the report;

(2)      authorises the contract period of 3 years from 1st November 2017 to 31st October 2020; and

(3)      grants delegated authority to the Head of Locality Services (Commissioned) to award the Contract resulting from the procurement, subject to consultation with Cabinet Member Locality Services.

Reasons for the Decision:

The Council has an ongoing programme of strategic transport investment. Development of these proposals, including the preparation of business cases and funding bids, requires a range of technical capabilities and a requirement to respond at short notice to bidding opportunities. The Council does not have the capability or capacity to undertake all the elements of work involved in developing and delivering this programme. It is proposed to procure a contract where the specialist services the Council needs to be able to develop and deliver the programme of strategic investment can be provided at short notice.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

The provision of all the specialist skills and capabilities through an in-house team would require substantial additional recruitment which is not practicable within current budget constraints and controls on recruitment.

Individual schemes could continue to be procured individually and independently through separate procurement processes. This would require officer time and resources for each procurement. In some situations, the timescales imposed for submitting proposals and funding bids mean that a stand-alone procurement process is either not feasible or would substantially detract from the time available for completing the submission. This approach would also mean that there is much less potential to develop strong working relationships with an individual service provider and for them to develop local knowledge.