The report of the Director of Commissioning is attached marked 6.

Contact:  George Candler 01743 255003

35.1The Committee received the report of the Director of Place and Enterprise – copy attached to the signed Minutes – which provided a further update on the existing and emerging assurance and management controls and risk management arrangements within the Council.  It included work undertaken to develop strong governance around commissioning, and also provided an update on the Commissioning Support Unit. 

35.2 The report gave assurance on the robustness of governance arrangements for all commissioning activity arising from the Council’s 2014-2017 business plan and financial strategy.  The Director of Place and Enterprise explained that higher value contracts went through quite a vigorous process and that the relevant Scrutiny Committee also looked at some of the larger Contracts which demonstrated that full governance arrangements were in place. 

35.3The Director of Place and Enterprise drew attention to the Commissioning Support Unit and the Intelligence Led Organisation updates.  He confirmed that Shropshire Council was a commissioning authority as 60/70% of its work was commissioned out.  Further guidance on the Council’s approach to transitioning services out of the Council was set out in Appendix three to the report.

35.4Turning to the Procurement and Contract Management update, the Director of Place and Enterprise explained that this section built on previous reports and referred to the new Contract Reference System and Delta, the Council’s e-tendering system.  In response to a query on the highways term maintenance contract, the Director of Place and Enterprise felt that the market place was reasonably broad enough to provide competition with possibly six to eight large contractors.  However there was a framework in place for planned activity whereby more contactors were available.

35.5In response to a further query on the same contract, the Director of Place and Enterprise was confident that the correct performance management measurements were in place following strong dialogue with contractors.  He confirmed that the Council always had good working relationships with its Contractors.  These measurements were of course always under review.

35.6In addition, the Commissioning Development and Procurement Manager informed Members of the very detailed process for recommissioning which was taking place in relation to that particular procurement.  He believed that there would be sufficient competition when tenders were invited.  Turning to performance indicators within the contract for that procurement, he confirmed that these were being looked at very carefully by the project team and should lead to better results in terms of performance.

35.7In response to a query, the Commissioning Development and Procurement Manager explained the process of due diligence undertaken around the ability of potential suppliers to deliver, such as undertaking financial checks and looking at references.  The Head of Audit reported that they undertook as much research as possible into the financial stability of a company, using all the facilities open to them.  The Commissioning Data Analysis and Intelligence Manager confirmed that those assurances were being developed and strengthened by working very closely with internal audit.

35.8RESOLVED:

        That the contents of the report be noted.