Issue - meetings

To consider report 33/11 of the head of corporate strategy. 

In accordance with paragraph 15(j) of the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules, the Scrutiny Committee chair has agreed that this is an urgent matter and therefore is not subject to call-in.

Cabinet considered report 33/11 of the head of corporate strategy, and noted the exempt information contained in the report’s appendix.  The report recommended approval of a joint grounds maintenance contract with South Oxfordshire District Council. 

Cabinet noted that in accordance with the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules, the Scrutiny Committee’s vice-chairman (in the absence of the chairman) had agreed that this was an urgent matter and therefore was not subject to call-in.  The reason for urgency was that the existing contract would end at both councils in December 2011 and European legislation governed the procurement timetable.  This included a standstill period, during which the councils could not enter into the contract until this period had expired. 

The report recommended that Cabinet approved the appointment of five suppliers to a grounds maintenance framework agreement, from which one was appointed to deliver the councils’ joint grounds maintenance service.  The report set out the procurement process, the tenders received, the options open to the councils, the financial and legal implications, and the risks involved.  No other options were considered because the evaluation of the tenders identified the five highest scoring companies and supplier eight offered the most economically advantageous proposal for the council.

Taking into consideration the debate in the joint informal meeting between Cabinet members of both councils, it was

RESOLVED: to

(a)               appoint suppliers one, three, five, six and eight to a framework agreement for the provision of grounds maintenance services;

(b)               appoint supplier eight to a joint contract for South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils for the supply of grounds maintenance services for a five year period with the option to extend for a further three years;

(c)               authorise the head of service for corporate strategy, in consultation with the head of legal and democratic services, to finalise terms and conditions and enter into contracts on each council’s behalf;

(d)               delegate authority to the head of corporate strategy, in consultation with the relevant cabinet member, to extend the joint contract for a period of three years, subject to satisfactory performance.