The council building maintenance and cleansing services were amalgamated under a single contract, which was procured through an open market tender exercise and this contract is due to terminate on the 31 August 2020. This contract now needs to be procured for a period from 1 September 2020 to 30 June 2023.

The cabinet member commissioning, procurement and assets introduced the report and summarised the background to the decision, stating that she did not believe that outsourcing should be the go-to option. She explained that the proposed new contract would be of sufficient length to allow more options for the future of the service to be explored. A correction to the length of the contract had been published which would push the end of the contract beyond the purdah period for the next Council elections in 2023. The contract would include measures to reduce the use of products containing phosphates.

The strategic property services manager highlighted key points of the report. In particular that:

·         The contract would follow the current model with one contract for maintenance and cleaning, this had been found to deliver benefits as there was only one management structure;

·         Market testing had established that there was interest in bidding for the contract;

·         Lessons learned from the operation of the current contract would be incorporated into the new contract;

·         In recognition of the climate emergency declared by the council new key performance measures would be included in the contract to assess such things as use of fuel and use of local labour to reduce travel distances.

In discussion of the report cabinet members noted:

·         The council wanted to encourage local companies to bid for contracts and would be working to make the tendering processes as easy as possible for local companies to access;

·         In seeking to avoid the use of phosphate chemicals, care should be taken in the substitute products used and all substances used should be evaluated.

Group leaders were invited to give the views of their group. Concerns were expressed about the performance of the current contractor and it was hoped that the new contract would see improvements. In response it was noted that key performance dashboards would be introduced to monitor the delivery of the contract.

It was agreed that:

(a)  a property maintenance and cleaning service contract be procured for two years and nine months from 1 September 2020 – 30 June 2023 with provision for a one year extension; and

(b)  the director of economy and place be authorised, following consultation with the cabinet member for assets, contracts and procurement, to award a contract to the successful provider for each or both services following tender evaluation, with a contract value of up to £12m per annum.