Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence. 

Councillor Roger Cox had sent his apologies for absence.  

To receive any declarations of personal or personal and prejudicial interests in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting. 

None

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.

None

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

Councillor Jim Halliday, chairman of the Scrutiny Committee, addressed the Cabinet on the proposed joint grounds maintenance contract with South Oxfordshire District Council.  He reported that he had been absent in the weeks leading up to this meeting and in accordance with the council’s constitution, the Scrutiny Committee’s vice-chairman had agreed to waive call-in rights on this item.  However, Councillor Halliday raised a few concerns.  He was grateful to Mr Matten, the Parks and Waste Manager, for detailed answers to his questions but wished to alert the Cabinet to the following:

• The price evaluation of the tenders received included 50 points for services to schools.  The education service was not a district council matter and should not be part of the consideration.  However, he noted that the differential between the first and second ranked contractor was more than 50 points
• The quality marking appeared to be subjective. 
• The prices were fixed for one year only, rendering the medium term financial forecasts invalid
• What penalty clauses would be included in the contract?  Penalty clauses should be robust and watertight
• In future, reports to Cabinet recommending the council entered into a contract should be more detailed

In summary, he accepted the officer’s recommendation but was concerned about the quality assessment, the medium term financial calculations, and urged tight penalty clauses.  He might seek to scrutinise the council’s tendering process further. 

The Cabinet chairman thanked Councillor Halliday for his statement and helpful contribution. 

To adjourn the Cabinet meeting to allow an informal meeting to take place with South Oxfordshire District Council’s Cabinet members to discuss the grounds maintenance contract.  

RESOLVED:

To adjourn this meeting in order that a joint informal meeting comprising Cabinet members of South Oxfordshire’s and Vale’s Cabinet can be held.  The purpose of this joint informal meeting is to allow Cabinet members of both councils to question officers on the proposed joint grounds maintenance contract before each Cabinet met separately to consider the report recommendations. 

After the joint informal meeting, the Cabinet reconvened. 

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. 

None