Cllr Hywel Williams, Cabinet Member - Resources

Andrew Jolley, Corporate Director - Operational and Partnership Services

The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services presented a report on how the Local Authority was getting best value for money on services and goods and what other local authorities were doing in the UK and wider. He explained that it was common sense to secure the best deal possible. It was important to understand the value of procurement as demonstrated by savings of £800,000 in school transport alone.

The corporate procurement project had a number of work streams to deliver the outcome of ensuring efficiency in the purchase of goods and services through the management of contracts and effective cross directorate overview of procurement. A task and finish group had been set up to review and update the internal contract procedure rules to ensure the authority had the ability to be innovative and flexible in the way it bought goods and services. This would include a review of the contract thresholds to ensure procurement could be undertaken at the right level with a balance of probity but also speed.

The Procurement Team worked with local providers to ensure they had access to the Authority’s service requirements, encouraging small to medium size enterprises to bid for business. Purchasing cards had been rolled out across the relevant departments in the authority. The team was working closely with Finance and Welsh Government to ensure implementation of EProcurement and the roll out of Basware, an electronic system providing an electronic marketplace across the authority. The team continued to roll out eTendering with full electronic tendering to be implemented by April 2017. A Corporate Contracts Register had been implemented via the etenderwales portal and staff trained on how to upload any contracts/spend. The introduction of a pre tender form, a category management approach, the use of fully procured frameworks offering the best value for money, E auctions and non-cashable savings all contributed to an improvement in the efficiency of the authority in the purchase of goods and services.

The Authority was in a good position to maintain its improvement in procurement across the Authority and to further develop a culture ensuring that procurement was seen as a positive force in the delivery of services and cost reduction.

The Committee asked why purchasing cards were not well accepted locally.

The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services explained that they were useful for small purchases in the same way you would use a debit card but not normally used in larger purchases.

Members referred to the number of national procurement frameworks and asked if in order to drive costs down, staff in these frameworks were on zero hours contracts. The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services explained that staff were employed by Welsh Government and not by the Authority on zero hours contracts. There was one National Procurement Service and a number of frameworks within e.g. solicitors and food. There were other organisations in England with frameworks that the Authority could join and this was better than undergoing an individual procurement process.

The Committee acknowledged that County Borough Supplies were already using these systems. They provided an excellent service particularly to schools and were supported by the frameworks however; there was an element of internal trading which was not efficient .

Members asked how frequently prices were updated. The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services explained that this was one of the reasons for looking at other frameworks and being an intelligent client.

The Committee questioned the etender process and the savings of £800,000. They asked if there was an increase in the number of companies that applied and if they were new companies.  The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services explained that he was not aware of any increase from outside the area but those that were already contracting with us were prepared to drop their fees. This process did drive down the prices although he would not expect to see the same savings again.

Members thanked the Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services for the presentation and for providing clarity when it came to the procurement process and potential for the future.        

Conclusions:

a)    The Committee expressed positive comments regarding the initiatives and work being undertaken under the corporate procurement project particularly in relation to the potential for saving money and the way in which procurement frameworks can help local businesses. Members strongly encouraged the sharing of this culture across the Local Authority with the objective of making savings and ensuring best value for money.

The Committee requested that a future report be received at an appropriate time in next year’s forward work programme with focus on outcomes and progression of the various workstreams of the procurement project.