Agenda and minutes

Transformation of Highways Services Sub Committee - Thursday, 15th July, 2010 9.00 am

Venue: Fred Flint Room, Westfields, Middlewich Road, Sandbach CW11 1HZ. View directions

Items
No. Item

1.

Appointment of Chairman

Minutes:

RESOLVED

 

That Councillor J Macrae be appointed Chairman for the meeting.

2.

Apologies

To receive apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor R Menlove.

3.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

4.

Public Speaking Time/Open Session

In accordance with Procedure Rules Nos.11 and 35 a total period of 10 minutes is allocated for members of the public to address the Committee on any matter relevant to the work of the Committee.

 

Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes but the Chairman will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned where there are a number of speakers.

 

In order for an informed answer to be given, where a member of the public wishes to ask a question of a Cabinet Member three clear working days notice must be given and the question must be submitted in writing.  It is not required to give notice of the intention to make use of public speaking provision but, as a matter of courtesy, a period of 24 hours notice is encouraged.

Minutes:

There were no questions from members of the public.

5.

Transformation of Highways Services: Highways Maintenance Team pdf icon PDF 514 KB

To approve the decisions requested, as set out in the report, in respect of the procurement of the new Highway Maintenance Contract.

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report of the Strategic Director Places. 

 

At its meeting on 20 April 2010 the Cabinet had agreed the general approach to transforming highways delivery and had established the Sub Committee, and an Officer Project Steering Group, to manage the delivery of the project in line with the timescales outlined at that time.  It was recognised that the procurement of the Highway Maintenance Contract was a key work stream within the Councils Total Transformation Programme, and was one of six major transformation projects supported by the Council.  The existing contract was due to end at the beginning of October 2011 and a new service provider therefore needed to be in place by that time. 

 

It was reported that a considerable amount of detailed work had been carried out to date; this had included visits to, and discussions with, a number of other local authorities.  As part of the process a number of key drivers for service delivery had been established and alternative options for delivery had been assessed and scored against these (Appendix 3).  Arising from this analysis two potential delivery options had been identified as being the most suitable, these being the Alliance Model and the Managing Agent Contractor (MAC); a detailed analysis of these options against the key and sub drivers was shown in Appendix 4 which also summarised the advantages and disadvantages of the two main procurement options, namely either a restricted procedure or by competitive dialogue. 

 

External legal advisors had provided clear advice that the procurement should be conducted using the competitive dialogue procedure.  This would allow the Council to enter into dialogue with bidders to identify solutions to best meet the Council’s needs and objectives and upon which final tenders could be sought.  A timetable for this procurement process was attached to the report as Appendix 1.  It was noted that the average length of time taken for procurement by competitive dialogue was 18 months, but that this had been truncated in order to meet the Councils necessary deadline of October 2011.

 

Careful consideration was given to report and its appendices; in response to a question concerning the opportunity for involvement in the procurement process by overview and scrutiny  it was confirmed that adequate time for its consideration had been allowed.  Future performance management measures would also be built into the monitoring of the contract. 

 

RESOLVED

For the reasons set out in the report: -

 

  1. That approval be given to the strategic direction of the procurement by way of the Managing Agent Contractor model.

 

  1. That the structures that are, and have been, put in place to support the procurement, and the significant resource implications, be noted.

 

  1. That the advice concerning the appropriate procurement method, namely by competitive dialogue, be noted.

 

  1. That the timetable shown in Appendix 1 of the report be agreed.