Issue - meetings

Purpose: to secure agreement to the proposed approach for procuring a contractor to provide leisure management services on behalf of South Oxfordshire District Council and Vale of White Horse District Council from 1 September 2014(report attached). 

Following the earlier informal briefing on the leisure management contract between the Cabinets of Vale of White Horse District Council and South Oxfordshire District Council, Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Economy, Leisure and Property that asked Cabinet to agree to the proposed approach for procuring a contractor to provide leisure management services on behalf of Vale of White Horse District Council and South Oxfordshire District Council with effect from 1 September 2014.

Councillor Ware set out the advantages of a shared contract including the financial benefits and resource implications.  Councillor Ware also referred to the disadvantages that could arise but highlighted that potential contractors would be asked how they would mitigate these.  She referred to the competitive dialogue process to gain high service standards and value for money, the evaluation criteria and the flexibility to include individual pricing structures if necessary.  The project board supported the joint contract approach to provide the best possible facilities and encourage participation.

Cabinet noted the potential drawbacks of a shared contract that included differences between the existing leisure management contracts across the two councils.  These differences compared with the financial benefits of a joint contract, which could bring competitive bids and operational and efficiency benefits in contract management.  Cabinet therefore agreed to enter into a competitive dialogue process in a joint procurement with South Oxfordshire District Council.

Cabinet also considered the evaluation criteria, which according to policy was to make 60 per cent of marks available for the most competitive price and 40 per cent for quality.  In order to ensure that high quality service was given as much regard as value for money and it remained deliverable, Cabinet agreed to allocate 50 per cent of marks for price and 50 per cent for quality.

RESOLVED: to

1.                  jointly with South Oxfordshire District Council, commence the procurement of a leisure management contract under the competitive dialogue process;

2.                  set the evaluation weighting for the joint contract at 50 per cent price and 50 per cent quality.