Agenda and minutes

To receive any declaration of interest by any member or officer in respect of any item of business.

No declaration of interest was received.

To receive a presentation by the Interim Head of Procurement.

In accordance with the resolution of the Audit Committee at its 10th April meeting, the Interim Head of Procurement provided the Committee with a presentation on the principal findings of the KPMG Fitness check of procurement arrangements at the Isle of Anglesey County Council along with the planned improvement actions to address the areas where shortcomings had been identified as part of a comprehensive procurement improvement programme.

(The KPMG report was made available to the Committee’s Members as background documentation)

The Interim Head of Procurement elaborated on the following issues as part of the presentation:

•           The methodology used by KPMG to undertake the fitness check which is a standard procurement maturity assessment model deployed across the public and private sectors to evaluate efficiency. The approach included an on-line questionnaire which relevant staff were asked to complete and based on which KPMG prepared an initial assessment of the Authority’s procurement capability in accordance with the Welsh Government’s maturity model. This assessment was then tested and moderated in face to face interviews conducted on site at the Authority with key procurement managers and stakeholders from across the Authority.

•           The model dimensions that were assessed which comprised the following, and for which the Isle of Anglesey was given a maturity grade on a scale ranging from non-conforming as the lowest rating to advanced as the highest, with performance for each dimension benchmarked against the average of Welsh authorities and the UK public sector benchmark:

•           Procurement leadership and governance

•           Procurement strategy and objectives

•           Defining the supply need

•           Commodity/project strategies and collaborative procurement

•           Contract and supplier management

•           Key purchasing processes and systems

•           People

•           Performance management

•           The summary of KPMG’s recommended actions against each model dimension.

•           KPMG’s detailed overview of the results per dimension including an explanatory commentary in support of the findings and the opportunities for improvement.

•           The Authority’s Programme for improving procurement and the aspects of the KPMG assessment which the programme will address and how.

•           Savings capability in terms of the influencable spend; estimated overall savings and the means by which these will be delivered via the Procurement Improvement Programme including the identification of efficiency savings of £2m to £4m over a 2 year period with a £98k investment in the Procurement Function.

•           An example profile of current spend by category for General Maintenance Services and the potential for savings (subject to an in-depth analysis) under this heading which a more systematic approach might yield including actions that can lead to immediate “quick wins.”

•           Key procurement savings areas across the Council and the potential savings to be realised.

There followed a question and answer session in which Members were afforded the opportunity to obtain clarifying  information about areas regarding which they were unclear or more detailed explanation of how certain aspects would be addressed including the following –

•           The methodology and the robustness of the evaluation

•           Differences in the fundamental approach to procurement in the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.