To approve the updates to the contract procedure rules, at appendix 2, the financial procedure rules, attached at appendix 4, and the financial procedure rules guidance notes attached at appendix 6. The rules were last updated and approved by the committee in January 2020.

The chief finance officer and head of corporate services presented the report.  

The following points were raised as part of the discussion:

·        It was noted that the financial procedure rules were a fine tuning and included clarification with regard to the treatment of under / over spends, recruitment and acceptance and spend of external grant funding.

·        Clarification was provided that where there was a contract for services and there was a building which could be provided, then a lease will be agreed.  This would provide a choice to any bidders about whether or not to use one of our buildings.

·        More changes would be required to national legislation in respect of Brexit which may impact the contract procedure rules.   It was noted that a local platform had been delivered to publicise tenders now that there was no requirement to publish in OJEU.   The thresholds for contracts remained the same.

·        It was confirmed that the approval of the accountable body status by the relevant cabinet member and Council was a local choice function.  As this provision was in the financial procedure rules which form part of the constitution, no further amendments to the constitution were required.

·        SWAP confirmed that the changes had been made in light of their recommendations in internal audit reports and they should provide better clarify.

·        The reasons why the low value threshold of £25k had been deemed appropriate were outlined.  The reasons included that the procurement process was difficult for smaller organisations so this would enable local and smaller business to participate and in turn would evidence best value and provide better social value.     A significant proportion of the council’s contracts were above £25k so the risk had been minimised.  Consideration may be given at a later stage to a greater value but there would to be a local market available.   

·        Mandatory training was now in place for officers at appropriate levels and included the requirement that contracts should not be disaggregated.

·        The original financial procedure rules and contract procedure rules incorporated best practice standards and had evolved over a number of years.

·        Where an exemption or waiver was being considered, the responsible director would need to sign if off after consultation with relevant teams within the council, e.g. procurement, legal services.

·        On page 143 of the agenda pack (paragraph 4.6.15) further work was requested to provide clarity when the council needed technical assistance in developing a tender and whether or not the organisation who had assisted could or could not bid on the work being tendered.

·        Increasing the number of quotes required may encourage officers to widen the scope of who can bid.  If suppliers cannot be identified, then the scope can be widened out and if waiver was still needed then an officer would be able to explain the reasons why.

·        The contracts register was published quarterly on the council’s website. 

RESOLVED that:

1.      The contract procedure rules at appendix 2, financial procedure rules at appendix 4 and financial procedure rules guidance notes at appendix 6 be approved

2.      Further work be undertaken to provide clarity when the council needed technical assistance in developing a tender and whether or not the organisation who had assisted could or could not bid on the work being tendered.