Decision details

That Cabinet agrees to enter a further 3 year service level agreement with Denbighshire County Council for the delivery of procurement services.

The Chief Officer (Governance) presented a report to recommend that Cabinet enter into a further three year service level agreement with Denbighshire County Council for the delivery of procurement services.

Councillor Mullin commented on significant progress on the shared service arrangement whilst acknowledging that further improvements could be made.

Councillor McGuill spoke about the importance of identifying and supporting local service providers.

Following a suggestion by Councillor Woolley, the Committee agreed to receive quarterly reports on progress.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That, subject to the changes being made as described in points 2 and 3 in the report, the Committee recommends that Cabinet enter into a further 3 year service level agreement with Denbighshire County Council for the delivery of procurement services;

(b)       That the Committee notes the following changes to be made to the service delivery model:

(i)      there is a need to promote collaborative procurement where it is appropriate and where it will deliver savings;

(ii)     business partners, senior management teams and chief officers need to actively engage with each other in order to flag up forthcoming projects and big contracts to plan the procurement route and consider collaboration;

(iii)    encourage the delivery of community benefits;

(iv)    clear and hard targets for the efficiencies to be achieved through the procurement process must be set;

(v)     the systems and paperwork are seen to be onerous and need to be reviewed to ensure that they are appropriate for internal purposes and do not become an unnecessary barrier to small firms bidding;

(vi)    there needs to be a review of experience following the procurement of major contracts;

(vii)   chief officers need to be more involved in agreeing where to strike the balance between potential benefits and procurement process risks;

(viii)  there is a need for performance reporting to Cabinet and Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committee on a quarterly basis.

(c)       That the Committee notes that the Chief Officer (Governance), in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Corporate Management and Assets will incorporate any changes suggested by the Audit Committee into the new service level agreement with Denbighshire County Council.