Agenda item

Report of the CorporateDirector Strategyand Resources and the Head of Contracting andProcurement

Jo Pettifor, Category Manager – Strategy and People, introduced the report presenting an update of the Nottingham City Council Procurement Plan for 2019-2024, which sets out the Council’s planned programme of procurement activity for all goods, works and services over this five-year period.

Committee Members suggested that the Procurement Plan could include additional information on the indicative length and value of contracts. All relevant contracts are considered and agreed by this Committee.

RESOLVED to

(1)  note the Nottingham City Council Procurement Plan 2019-2024;

(2)  note that the Procurement Plan is indicative of planned procurement activity and timescales, which may be subject to change dependent on the outcomes of the strategic commissioning process, service budgets and priorities and the full consideration of procurement options for each requirement;

(3)  note that the outcomes of procurement activity undertaken in accordance with the Plan during 2019/20 will be reported at the end of the year.

Reasons for decision

1)  The Procurement Plan is a key mechanism in the implementation of the Nottingham City Council Procurement Strategy to deliver the Council’s strategic priorities. It enables the planning of procurement activity under the Strategy to pursue the key procurement objectives of

·  Citizens at the heart

·  Securing economic, social and environmental benefits

·  Commercial efficiency

2)  The Procurement Plan enables the Council to secure value for money, manage financial resources effectively and align its commissioning and procurement activity with the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP), through a planned approach and robust financial analysis for each project. A strategic category management approach will maximise the value of spend and generate savings wherever possible for departmental budgets.

3)  The Procurement Plan supports compliance with the Public Procurement Regulations and the Contract Procedure Rules of the Council’s Financial Regulations by enabling procurement activity to be planned and undertaken prior to the expiry of existing contracts. This minimises the need for dispensation from the Financial Regulations to extend contracts beyond their expiry date without formal tendering, other than in genuinely exceptional circumstances. This is important in relation to goods and services that are subject to the full application of the EU and UK Procurement Regulations.

4)  The Procurement Plan provides information for internal and external stakeholders about planned procurement activity and facilitates joint working with partner organisations and collaboration in procurement activity. It allows other service departments (such as Legal Services) to include support for procurement activity in their work plans.

5)  The Procurement Plan informs provider markets about forthcoming opportunities to bid for Council contracts, enabling suppliers to prepare and for market development support to be offered.

6)  The Procurement Plan supports the Council’s commercialisation agenda and facilitates ‘Make or Buy’ considerations by enabling these opportunities to be identified in advance of existing contracts being due for renewal.

Other options considered

Do nothing. This would impact upon the planning of the Council’s procurement activity across all goods, works and services. There would be a risk of non-compliance with the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules and Financial Regulations and applicable EU and UK Procurement Regulations due to procurement activity not being undertaken in a timely way and contracts needing to be extended before their expiry date. In relation to commissioned services, it would impact on the alignment of procurement activity with the programme of commissioning reviews undertaken within Strategy and Resources. For these reasons, this option was rejected.