Agenda item

Report of Corporate Director for Growth and City Development

Joseph Muir, Senior Homelessness Project Officer, presented the report and stated the following:

The spend detailed in the report was approved on 18/12/23 by the s.151 Officer (SCB ref: 1618).

a)  Nottingham City Council has a responsibility for:

·  employee welfare and contractual obligations for travelling and accommodation whilst Nottingham City Council employees complete essential tasks detailed within job descriptions;

·  satisfying all statutory duties placed upon the Council to provide emergency accommodation to support and safeguard vulnerable households, assess homeless applications and for the protection of children and young people;

b)  the Council currently uses an online booking system, Click Travel, to book 100% of its travel and accommodation requirements for employees, and over 90% for citizen travel and accommodation;

c)  the Council endeavours to commission a sufficient supply of temporary and supported accommodation to meet its statutory duties to all citizens. However, a continued higher than expected demand for these services means that, in emergency situations or when our temporary and supported accommodation provision is full, the use of the online booking system is required to secure emergency nightly paid accommodation in hotels;

d)  the current Click Travel contract expired on 30 November 2023 and a decision was taken at Nottingham City Council Executive Board on 19 December 2023 to extend the current contract for an interim period of two months to 31 January 2024;

e)  during 2023, a review was completed to assess the future requirements and needs of the Council for corporate travel and short-term accommodation bookings for citizens and to determine whether it is appropriate to call off a new contract for a further longer term fixed period.  The review concluded that there is a need for a booking system and that a Direct Call-Off, call off to Click Travel via Lot 1 of the YPO Travel Management Solutions 2 framework was the only feasible option to maintain the possibility of both citizen and corporate bookings

f)  consultation with internal users found the existing system to be effective overall.  However, the council seek a further development of the service provided by Click Travel to enable the separation of Corporate and Citizen travel and accommodation bookings and expenditure on usage. With a further breakdown within the citizen booking functionality to distinguish between single person and family households. The reason this is required is to maximise the availability of suppliers within each type of booking arrangement and minimise one negatively impacting on another;

g)  Click Travel is the preferred option to continue to deliver the service to ensure that no disruptions are experienced to:

·  employee travel and accommodation;

·  in securing emergency placements to meet statutory duties to citizens;

h)  the Council has determined a need to review and develop an additional process/system to procure other nightly paid and short-term block booking arrangements from accommodation providers who are not registered on Click Travel;

i)  when established, this system could eventually become the primary route of securing emergency accommodation for citizens, particularly those the council is required to accommodate under homelessness duties;

j)  this will be dependent upon market participation and, as the process to develop the supplementary system is yet to be developed, this decision is for the maximum potential spend anticipated through the Click Travel booking system for the contract duration and another report will be submitted to a future meeting outlining the final proposals.

Resolved to approve a new direct call-off contract, via Lot 1 of the YPO Travel Management Solutions 2 framework, to Click Travel, for a period of three years and ten months from 01 February 2024 to 30 November 2027, at an estimated total cost of £12,788,900.78 (as detailed in the exempt appendix).

Reasons for recommendation

a)  The Council has an obligation to ensure travel and accommodation arrangements for officers which is necessary in fulfilment of their roles.

b)  The council has a statutory duty to provide emergency accommodation for vulnerable citizens under an assessment criterion.

c)  The council is required to source the accommodation in a way that is compliant with procurement regulations, and which offers best value, quality assurance and auditable use.

Other options considered

a.  To use the current requirements and specification to go out retender - Rejected because the current provider was assessed as being adequate for the Councils usage and that the provider was already part of the YPO Travel Management Solutions 2, Lot 1 framework allowing for Direct Call-Off.

b.  To renew the contract under the current specification - Rejected because of the need to separate citizen and employee travel and further breakdown bookings for single citizens and family households.

c.  Not to review the contract or procure an alternative system - Rejected because of the council’s need to secure accommodation when needed in a way that is compliant and offer efficiency to service delivery.