Agenda and minutes

Cabinet - Thursday, 28 January 2016 6.35 pm

Venue: Meeting Room 1, 135 Eastern Avenue, Milton Park, Milton, OX14 4SB

Contact: Steve Culliford, Democratic Services Officer. Tel. (01235) 540306 Email:  steve.culliford@southandvale.gov.uk 

Items
No. Item

33.

Apologies for absence

To receive apologies for absence. 

Minutes:

None

34.

Declarations of interest

To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting.  

Minutes:

None

35.

Urgent business and chairman's announcements

To receive notification of any matters which the chairman determines should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances which have made the matters urgent, and to receive any announcements from the chairman.

Minutes:

None

36.

Statements, petitions, and questions relating to matters affecting the Cabinet

Any statements, petitions, and questions from the public under standing order 32 will be made or presented at the meeting.

Minutes:

None

37.

Corporate services procurement - designation of preferred bidders pdf icon PDF 475 KB

To consider the strategic director’s report. 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cabinet considered the strategic director’s report on the procurement of corporate services.  The corporate services project had commenced in April 2014, attracting three new district council partners (Hart, Havant Borough, and Mendip) in addition to the council’s existing partner, South Oxfordshire District Council.  The project and associated procurement exercises set out to contribute directly to the following corporate objectives:

·         the excellent delivery of key services, in particular high performing services

·         the effective management of resources, in particular the councils continuing to work together to extend the sharing of services and resources, such as a shared client team and a private sector provider for a number of services

 

In addition to re-tendering revenues and benefits services that the council and South Oxfordshire had contracted out ten years ago, the five partner councils had also invited tenders for a range of services currently delivered by in-house teams:

 

Lot 1 (data based services)

Lot 2 (property based services)

Accountancy

Property management

HR

Facilities management

IT operations

Car parks

Land charges

 

Licensing

 

Procurement

 

Already contracted out services:  council tax collection and council tax reduction scheme, business rate collection, housing benefit administration, payroll, provision of financial management system, accounts payable and accounts receivable, customer services (switchboard and reception)

 

 

The partner councils had agreed to carry out two simultaneous European Union (EU) procurement exercises using a competitive dialogue process.  The project generated market interest with tenders being received and evaluated in late 2015.  The report set out the results of the tender evaluation process and recommended how services could be delivered most cost effectively in future.  The report recommended a nine years and two months contract term for South and Vale, with Capita being the preferred bidder for the Lot 1 contract, and Vinci being the preferred bidder for the Lot 2 contract.  South and Vale would commence these contracts on 1 August 2016, whereas some of the other partner councils would commence their contracted services in 2017.  Irrespective of different commencement dates for different councils, the contract expiry date for all partner councils would be 30 September 2025. 

 

The South and Vale Joint Scrutiny Committee had met on 21 January 2016 and supported the recommendations contained in the report. 

 

Before the Cabinet meeting, both South Oxfordshire’s and the Vale of White Horse’s Cabinets met together informally to discuss the proposals, debate the options set out in the report, and consider reasons why options should be approved or rejected.  The minutes of that informal meeting are appended to these minutes. 

 

The strategic director’s report contained several appendices.  Cabinet noted appendices 6 to 10, which contained exempt information, but did not discuss these in the meeting.  Therefore, the Cabinet meeting did not move into exempt session. 

 

The leader moved the recommendations set out in the report, subject to two amendments (1) for the chief executive to consult the relevant Cabinet member on finalising the terms of reference of the joint committee, and (2) for the chief executive to consult the chairman of the scrutiny committee on finalising  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.