Agenda item

Report of Corporate Director for Communities, Environment and Resident Services

Trevor Bone, Head of Building Services and Facilities Management, presented the report and stated the following:

a)  the report sets out Building Services (BS) and Facilities Management (FM) procurement requirements for planned, reactive maintenance and minor works during the financial year 2024-25, including the Property Team’s procurement requirements due to the formation of a Corporate Landlord Service, which BS / FM fall under;

b)  the Council has a statutory duty to be compliant with all applicable asset legislation in relation to its asset portfolio. This duty is met by carrying out planned, reactive and minor works on its asset portfolio;

c)  whilst works are performed in-house wherever possible, there are occasions where specialist contractors or additional resource is required, and the report details (in the appendix) how those requirements are to be procured to provide a seamless ability to meet the Council’s statutory duty.

Resolved to

(1)  delegate authority to the Head of Building Services and Facilities Management and/or the Director of Economic Development and Property to:

(a)  procure and award the frameworks and contracts as set out in the annual procurement plan (in the appendix) to a maximum value of £17,730,000;

(b)  award call-off contracts under the frameworks (as set out in the appendix) within established budgets and in compliance with the terms of the frameworks, without having to seek further approvals up to the financial limit for officer decisions in force at the time (for the avoidance of doubt, in respect of awards of contract(s) other than provided for in this recommendation, approval appropriate to the delegated limits of authority set out in the Constitution at the time will be sought);

(2)  approve expenditure of at least £1m of the £3.1m planned maintenance budget for 2024-25 on services delivered through in-house provision.

Reasons for recommendations

a)  there are a number of contracts which the Building Services and Facilities Management (BS&FM) department use that are coming to the end of their term in March 2024 onwards. The contracts set out in the appendix 1 require re-procurement to enable BS&FM to keep the Council’s asset portfolio compliant with regulatory, legislative and insurance obligations. Through the proposed procurement routes the Council can continue to improve efficiency and service of supplier delivery across multiple high-risk work streams and improve value for money for Directorates across the Council. Our annual procurement programme has proven to be the best approach to securing a competent specialist supply chain with the lowest costs possible;

b)  the report details how orders are placed with Contractors through the Council’s robust system. To ensure a smooth and timely process for placing orders it is recommended that the Director of Economic Development and Property has delegated authority to approve any contracts and call-offs made under frameworks for their duration.  No award will be made without evidence that the budget has been approved for the ordered requirement;

c)  it has been identified that at least £1m of the 2024-25 planned maintenance budget can be delivered through use of in-house services.

Other options considered

a)  do nothing and allow contracts to end, which will remove statutory, regulatory, and legislative compliancy across the Council’s portfolio of assets and increase the risk of prosecution and reputational damage to Nottingham City Council. This option was considered unacceptable and rejected;

b)  in-source all the activity covered by the contract areas under consideration for renewal. Due to the complexity and high risks involved with this task, including a lack of competency-based skills and training, equipment, and specialised resource, it was considered unacceptable and rejected;

c)  allow Nottingham City Council’s directorates to purchase their own asset compliancy services. This is a very high-risk approach to asset safety and compliance across the portfolio and the Council would find it very hard to track actual compliance through our current systems. In 2024 under the Corporate Landlord Services programme all Statutory testing across the Council is now the responsibility of Corporate Landlord Service BS/FM team. Such an approach would lead to additional expense and the general safety of the asset compromised as well as going against the principles of the Corporate Landlord model introduced in 2023. This option was considered unacceptable and rejected.