Agenda item

The Head of Strategic Procurement introduced a report which detailed all the Waivers and Breaches to the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules for the period 1st March 2023 to 31st August 2023. The report provided a summary of the number of new waivers and breaches recorded for each directorate since the last Audit report presented to the Committee in April 2023 and October 2022 for comparative purposes.

Due to the realignment of the Council’s directorates, the Chief Executives directorate had been included in the figures going forward, the majority of spend was previously incorporated in the Corporate Resources directorate.

The Council at its meeting in September 2023 had approved changes to the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules.  The new rules were being embedded across the Council. The report further set out details of the Provider Selection Regime (PSR) Rules coming into force on 1st January 2024 under the Health and Social Care Act 2022, regarding procuring health care services contracts in England. The Contract Procedure Rules would be amended in January 2024 to reflect the changes. Small technical changes would also be made to Contract Procedure Rules in respect of new procurement value thresholds announced. The changes would be reported to the Audit Committee meeting in April 2024.

It was noted that three new breaches had been reported for the period, along with two resolved breaches and three unresolved breaches. There had been a decrease in the number of approved waivers to the Contract Procedure Rules for this period from 16 waivers to 11, to that reported to the Committee in April 2023, details of which were provided for in the report and accompanying appendices.

In response to questions from Members seeking clarification in relation to the breach relating to Supported Accommodation and Floating Support Services for Young Families and Parents and whether lessons had been learnt for the future when procuring contracts, the Head of Strategic Procurement explained that the breach occurred as the service area made a late request for a waiver which was not compliant with Contract Procedure Rules rationale for allowing a waiver. The contract had since been transferred from Adult services to the Children’s service commissioning team. The contract had been formalised for the period of the breach until the matter was resolved and the service had been recommissioned to ensure that contracts were in place for the breach period up to May 2024. It was noted that officers were made fully aware of the need to achieve compliance and assurances had been provided that this situation would not happen again. The Monitoring Officer provided further assurance that the Council’s arrangements for approval of waivers were robustly managed, which clearly demonstrated that arrangements were working by the waiver being rejected.

The Vice-Chair welcomed the report and congratulated Officers for the reduction in the breaches and waivers and the robust procedures in place. In response to a question regarding the Ubricity on-Street Residential Electric Vehicle Charging Pilot Scheme, as set out at Appendix 2 of the report, it was explained that currently electrical charging infrastructure was a niche market which was driven by subsidiaries and therefore there was an insufficient supply of on street electrical chargers which was mainly led by commercial companies. However, it was pointed out that the Ubricity on-Street pilot was a unique scheme as it was Government led and the Council had been successful in bidding for £2m grant funding. The Council had to comply with the requirements of accessing Government grant funding and the short timescales in place for the Council to be able to access that funding, which did not allow for a best value procurement process. The Director of Corporate Resources further explained that the company was piloting different technologies and wanted someone in South Yorkshire to pilot the scheme. She highlighted the risks associated with the scheme and the challenges involved in testing the different forms of technology and challenges around the use of technology by communities. The company had chosen from their data set the areas where they wanted to test technology which allowed for engagement with residents in identified areas. Members were assured that there was no obligation for the Council to enter into a contract agreement with the Ubricity in terms of future contracts for electric vehicle charging. She highlighted the difficulties faced by the Council in ensuring comprehensive on-street electric vehicle charging access for all properties across the Borough, in particular terraced housing.

The Vice-Chair congratulated officers for their success in bidding for the Ubricity Scheme. Whilst welcoming partnership arrangements with private partners, where there were no initial costs to the Council in setting up the infrastructure for electric charging, the Vice-Chair asked whether the Council had appropriate procurement procedures in place, rather than a waiver having to be raised. It was explained that currently such contracts are captured by the Concession Contract Regulations 2016, but this may be subject to change in the future.

A Member referred to the risks, costs to the Council and best value for money associated with this scheme and asked that the Committee revisit this issue in six months’ time. It was subsequently agreed that Overview and Scrutiny be requested to review the pilot scheme, prior to the scheme being rolled out across the Borough.

Whilst being supportive of the Ubricity On-Street Residential Electric Vehicle Charging pilot scheme, Councillor Shaw as local ward Member for the Town ward expressed disappointment that neither he or residents in the ward had been consulted regarding the proposals and had been informed that the works in relation to the scheme were scheduled to commence shortly. It was agreed that this issue would be raised with the lead officer.

The Head of Strategic Procurement responded to several questions from Members seeking clarity relating to the breaches, in respect of numbers 2.1, Buildings Materials and Timber, 2.2 Kitchens, 2.3 Building Materials and 2.4 and 2.5 Modular Buildings, as appended to Appendix 1 of the report. She explained the rationale for the breaches and updated Members on the timeframe for resolution of some of the breaches. She also provided clarity in relation to the waiver in respect of Doncaster Supported Living Service.

Councillor Shaw asked why only one quotation had been obtained in respect of the breach relating to Modular Buildings, as outlined in Section 2.4 of Appendix 1. The Head of Procurement undertook to provide Councillor Shaw and the Audit Committee with further details.

Following further questions from the Chair, the Head of Strategic Procurement confirmed that she was satisfied with the Council’s current arrangements for procurement of contracts which were compliant with Contract Procedure Rules. In relation to mandatory training for officers on Contract Procedure Rules, an e-Learning module was currently being developed, which would be rolled out in January 2024. Face to face training continued to take place with officers. The Strategic Procurement Team were working with Children’s services regarding contracts and the data and contracts formerly under the Doncaster Children’s Services Trust that had been novated into the Council systems.  However, she advised that these needed to be strengthened. The Monitoring Officer confirmed that he was happy with the arrangements regarding Contract Procedure Rules compliance. In future the Council would benchmark other local authorities in terms of their arrangements in respect of Contract Procedure Rules.

Members welcomed the improvements made and were pleased to note that Officers involved in the procurement of goods would be receiving mandatory training from the Strategic Procurement Team, which provided assurance to the Committee that arrangements were working effectively.

RESOLVED that

1)     the Waivers and Breaches recorded for the period between the 1st of March 2023 to the 31st of August 2023, be noted; and

2)      the work undertaken by the Strategic Procurement Team (SPT) to ensure compliance and deliver services, be noted.