Agenda item

To submit a report by the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer.

The report of the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer incorporating the draft Procurement Strategic Plan and Contract Procedure Rules was presented for the Executive’s consideration and approval.

The report was presented by Councillor Robin Williams, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Member for Finance and Housing who outlined the background with the UK Government having revised the legislation in respect of procurement in the public sector with the Procurement Act 2023 due to come into force on 24 February 2025 which is later than the initial planned date of 28 October 2024. Also, Welsh Government has passed the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023 which places additional responsibilities and duties on public sector organisations in Wales in relation to procurement. The Council commissioned an external company to review the Council’s preparedness for the change in legislation and to provide the Council with an action plan to ensure compliance which covers a number of areas including the overall strategy. The Strategic Plan sets out the Council’s approach to procurement and ensures that the way in which the Council commissions and sources its services, supplies and works is compliant with legislation, internal policies and processes, is ethical, open, fair, transparent and includes economic, social, labour and environmental factors in the process. Councillor Robin Williams said that the intention is to pursue local procurement where feasible, and he highlighted that in the region of a quarter of the Council’s contracts are with local firms and in some instances where the contract is with a company that is not local, local resources such as staff are part of the contract delivery.

He further reported that the change in procurement legislation required the Council to update its Contract Procedure Rules (CPRs) which set out the process on how to undertake a procurement exercise, the different procurement methods and when they should be used. The revised CPRs have been drafted to ensure they are flexible enough to allow officers to undertake procurement exercises in the most efficient and effective way while still ensuring that any procurement exercise is controlled and ensures that the Council achieves value for money.

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer advised that if the Strategic Plan and Contract Procedure Rules are approved then work on the action plan will continue under the oversight of a project team with staff training scheduled for January and February ahead of the implementation of the new legislation on 24 February 2025. He referred to the priority areas identified by the Plan as being leadership and culture, use of data and being commercially informed, social value and the environment, ensuring compliance and focusing on the local economy. The Plan sets out how these will be achieved and how success in these areas will be assessed and evaluated the intention being to report regularly on progress to the Leadership Team and annually to the Executive and to the Governance and Audit Committee.

Councillor Douglas Fowlie, Chair of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee was invited to report on Scrutiny’s views from the 19 November 2024 meeting when the draft Procurement Strategic Plan and Contract Procedure Rules were considered by the committee. He referred to the issues raised in discussion by the committee including how the proposed changes would contribute towards realising the objectives of the Council Plan and help the Council achieve value for money, ensuring compliance with the strategy, the new legislation and contract procedure rules, whether the Council is able to consider alternative models of delivery and the use of technology to secure administrative  efficiencies, and the benefits to the local economy as regards support for local businesses to tender for contracts and  the contract spend on local firms. Having received assurances with regard to these matters the Corporate Scrutiny Committee had resolved to recommend the draft Procurement Strategic Plan and Contract Procedure Rules for approval by the Executive.

The Executive expressed appreciation for the Strategic Plan which it was agreed had distilled a complex matter into an accessible document. The Executive highlighted contracting with local suppliers and engaging with local businesses as important elements of the plan as well as recognising that procuring locally can generate wider social benefits such as employment and can provide experiences for local people who might not otherwise have such opportunities.

Councillor Dafydd Roberts, Portfolio Member for Education and the Welsh Language referred to the expectations as set out in Appendix B2 that suppliers will provide to recognised standards which for agriculture are cited as Global G.A.P. standards. He sought clarification of what the Global G.A.P. standards entail and sought assurance also that local suppliers including farmers will not be required to deliver to standards that are in addition to or different from local and nationally recognised and agreed standards which could make compliance difficult.

The Chief Executive advised that with the Executive’s approval, Officers would look into the Global G.A.P. standards and report back on those as well as on the requirements that suppliers can reasonably be expected to meet which are in line with local and national standards and practices.

It was resolved –

• To approve the Council’s Procurement Strategic Plan which will come into effect on the date the new legislation comes into force (Appendix A to the report).
• To approve the revised Contract Procedure Rules which will come into effect on the date the new legislation comes into force (Appendix B to the report).
• To delegate any further decisions in respect of the implementation of the Procurement Action Plan that requires the approval of the Executive to the Portfolio Member for Finance. All decisions will be published in the normal manner.
• To ask Officers to provide clarification of the Global G.A.P. farm assurance standards and to report back thereon with a view to ensuring that the Council’s expectations with regard to its suppliers are in line with current national and local standards and practices.