Issue - meetings

The Board considered a report of the Operational Director, Finance, which provided an update on:

·         procurement activity in 2021/22, with an outline of the key actions taken during the year – Members were referred to Appendix A, which presented a total of 116 contracts awarded with their values; and Appendix B which presented details of 78 contract extensions supported and their values;

·         the progress achieved in delivering the Council’s Procurement Strategy – Appendix C provided updates on progress against the planned actions and demonstrated strong progress against all four themes of the Strategy; and

·         the Procurement Bill – this was currently at the Committee Stage in the House of Lords and some refinement of its key provisions were expected.  The report outlined some of the key points within the document.

Further to Members questions the following was noted:

·         Only contracts above £25,000 are required to be advertised and procured through the Chest;

·         For contracts below £25,000 best value is sought by obtaining three quotes from different suppliers.  Managers within service areas are usually best placed to understand the local market and which suppliers to approach for quotations.  This also helped to make the procurement process more efficient for low value spend;

·         The reason for the length of the recent Highways contract award was discussed; and

·         Individual service areas of the Council were responsible for determining the specification requirements for the type and nature of products required.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.