To review and approve the proposed updates to the Contract Procedure Rules, the Financial Procedure Rules and the Financial Procedure Rules Guidance Notes appended to this report.

The Director of Resources and Assurance introduced the report, commenting that the proposed updates reflected an evolution of the documents and attention was drawn to the track change versions appended to the report.

The following points were made in response to questions from committee members:

i.             Section 6 – Contract Procedure Rules, Low Value (agenda page 307): Clarification would be provided about the reason for the precise figure in the sentence ‘Where the opportunity is above £20,833 you must publish a contract award notice on Central government’s Contracts Finder’.

ii.            Section 6 – Contract Procedure Rules, section 4.6.31 (agenda page 317): The sentence would be changed to read ‘As part of the evaluation process the Council must undertake due diligence checks which seek to determine the commercial stability of the shortlisted Bidders to inform the decision to award a contract. This can include A minimum of one of the following must be undertaken:’

iii.          Finance Procedure Rules – Guidance Notes, 59 – Netting off of expenditure (agenda page 347): The Director of Resources and Assurance commented that there was reliance on members of the finance team to ensure that changes to policy were delivered in practice.  The Assistant Director of South West Audit Partnership said that confirmation would be provided as to whether this new paragraph satisfied a related internal audit recommendation.

iv.          The Director of Resources and Assurance did not highlight any other changes specifically arising from audit recommendations but said that the documents had been looked at in the round.  It was noted that previous issues with compensation events had been due to policies and procedures not being followed appropriately.

v.           Section 6 – Contract Procedure Rules, UK Tenders (agenda page 308): The Senior Solicitor, Governance and Major Projects confirmed that the precise figures reflected the public procurement thresholds published by the government.

vi.          Section 6 – Contract Procedure Rules, section 4.6.28 (agenda page 317): The Senior Solicitor, Governance and Major Projects said that the potential inclusion of explicit reference to sustainability considerations and environmental characteristics in this paragraph would be discussed with the relevant teams.

It was agreed that the authorisation to make appropriate changes to this paragraph be delegated to officers if this was possible from a technical perspective.

RESOLVED:  

That the following updated Council documents be approved:

(a)        The Contract Procedure Rules at Appendix 1 to the report, subject to:

(i)           Officers being delegated to make appropriate changes to Section 4.6.28 to reference sustainability considerations and environmental characteristics if this was possible from a technical perspective; and

(ii)         Section 4.6.31 being amended to reference ‘A minimum of one of the following must be undertaken:’.

(b)     Financial Procedure Rules at Appendix 2 to the report.

(c)     Financial Procedure Rules Guidance Notes at Appendix 3 to the report.

Action(s):

Action 174:     Section 6 – Contract Procedure Rules, Low Value: A reason be provided for the precise figure in the sentence ‘Where the opportunity is above £20,833 you must publish a contract award notice on Central government’s Contracts Finder’.

Action 175:     Finance Procedure Rules – Guidance Notes, 59 – Netting off of expenditure: SWAP provide confirmation that this new paragraph satisfied a related internal audit recommendation.

Action 176:     As per recommendation (a)(i) above.