Agenda and draft minutes

Councillor Barnard – other Council business

None.

Last meeting held on 10 December 2024 (for confirmation)

The Committee agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2024 as a correct record and they were signed by the Chair.

Report of Corporate Director for Growth and City Development

Aidan Jackson, Bidding and Funding Unit Manager, presented the report and stated the following:

a)  most of the work of the Economic Development service (ED) is delivered through externally funded programmes. Much of this coming through as Government grants. This is typically to help people get jobs/get better jobs/increase skills/build community confidence and support business to start, grow and prosper. It is mostly contracted to suppliers who are better placed to deliver the work than Nottingham City Council;

b)  these suppliers are, usually, contracted through a series of repeating procurements and commissioning processes, which are usually time consuming and have the potential to cause delays in the delivery of the project, resulting in reduced time to maximise delivery  and therefore increased risk of underperformance;

c)  in addition, external funders are increasingly shortening the time between launch of a tender process to delivery, leaving little time for compliant procurement;

d)  in order to resolve these issues, the proposal seeks to:

  i.  establish a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 or a Dynamic Market under the Procurement Act 2023 if the procurement starts after 24 February 2025 but for the purpose of this report will be both be referred to as DPS)) to procure services from suppliers through a call off process where a Contract for Services is required. A DPS is a mechanism where a number of suppliers apply to be on a pre-qualified list from which through a call off process contracting can take place. It is similar to a framework but allows new suppliers to join the DPS at any time in the life of the DPS;

  ii.  establish a system that is analogous to a DPS as a Dynamic Grant Process (DGP) to issue grants to grant recipients through a call off process where a Grant Agreement is required. A DGP works in the same way as a DPS but is for suppliers to deliver grant work, not contracts for services

e)  both systems would contain pre-qualified suppliers and potential grant recipients who would be selected through a call off process. The systems will be facilitated using functionality within the Council’s current eTendering platform;

f)  these will enable Nottingham City Council  to contract with delivery partners more efficiently and effectively for future programmes,  inclduing current funds such as the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Create Growth Programme, and Multiply and future funds designed to help people gain jobs/better jobs/skills and qualifications, support business and communities;

g)  whilst there is a cost in managing this work as it is new there are savings for both the Council and suppliers. For the council as less time will be needed to review applications often looking at the same core information, and for suppliers as they will not need to repeat information in applications;

h)  the DPS and DGP will have several specifications/requirements which suppliers/grant recipients will indicate they can deliver and would like to be considered for. When funds are secured, two processes will be enacted and call-off  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63.

To consider excluding the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining item in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the basis that, having regard to all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information

The Committee agreed to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining item in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the basis that, having regard to all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information, as defined in Paragraphs 3 and 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

10 December 2024

The Committee agreed the exempt minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2024 as a correct record and they were signed by the Chair.