Agenda item

To receive a report seeking approval for the Authority’s Procurement Plan 2023/2024 to proceed with the relevant procurement exercises throughout the financial year and award contracts in accordance with UK public procurement legislation to the most advantageous tenders.

Cabinet considered a report seeking approval to the Authority’s Procurement Plan 2023-2024 to proceed with the relevant procurement exercises throughout the financial year and award contracts in accordance with UK public procurement legislation to the most advantageous tenders.

The Authority continued to spend a considerable sum on third party goods and services. The Authority’s constitution required that prior to any procurement commencing which exceeded £500,000 Cabinet approval must be obtained.

The Authority continued to spend a considerable sum on third party goods and services. The Authority’s Constitution required that prior to any procurement commencing which exceeded £500,000 Cabinet approval must be obtained. Once the Authority’s budget was approved by full Council on 16 February 2023 the third-party requirements of the Authority became known. The procurement exercised which would commence in the financial year 2023/2024 had been identified and are set out at Appendix 1 to the report. When procuring services, the Authority was obliged to consider how what was being procured might improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of the borough and how it might secure that improvement as part of the procurement process. This was what was meant by ‘Social Value’.

The Authority had sought Social Value within its procured contracts since the implementation of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012. However, by its adoption of the Procurement and Commercial Strategy the Authority had strengthened how it works with its suppliers in the joint delivery of Social Value. Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) suppliers were already obliged to deliver Social Value so as to minimise the impact they had on the environment and maximise benefits to the local economy. Through its Procurement and Commercial Strategy, the Authority ensured that it aligned itself with the private sector and by doing so ensured the joint delivery of Social Value within the Borough.  Following the adoption of the Council Plan for 2021-2025, the Authority updated its Social Value priorities in March 2022 and these priorities were contained within the Authority’s Procurement and Commercial Strategy for 2022-2025. A pilot exercise was being undertaken to help develop a process utilising the contract management toolkit as part of the procurement and contract management activity. The Authority’s Social Value priorities and subsequent outcomes used to measure Social Value follow the priorities within the Our North Tyneside Plan: Thriving, Family Friendly, Secure, Caring and Greener.

Utilising the Social Value principles within the Procurement and Commercial Strategy, the Authority would continue to gain commitments from suppliers which align with the policy priorities of the Mayor and Cabinet. This would include a greener target embedded approach to support the Authority’s target to be carbon net-zero by 2030. The Authority’s tendering process would be streamlined, and better information would be provided to the market. Where appropriate, lower value tenders would be issued. The Authority was seeing an increase in the number of Small and Medium Enterprise’s (SME’s) and local suppliers that it procured with. The procurement exercises due to commence in 2023/24 would continue to give SME’s and local suppliers the chance to work with the Authority, again enabling and encouraging smaller businesses. Working with the Business Forum and the North East Procurement Organisation (NEPO), bespoke workshops would be developed to support SME’s. The principles set out in the Authority’s Responsible Procurement Charter would be embedded in the tender requirements.

The relevant service area would develop tender packages and robust specifications to ensure that the Authority was protected in terms of financial and commercial risk.

The duration of the contract would be considered to help shape new and emerging markets; lessons learned from any previous contracts would be considered when developing the tender package. Relevant existing frameworks would be explored if appropriate to the contract. Collaborative regional working would be explored if appropriate to the contract. The contract award criteria would be developed considering social value as appropriate.

Consultation prior to commencing a procurement exercise with the relevant Cabinet Members was key as this would ensure that the Authority Priorities were achieved through its contracting arrangements. The Authority’s finance team would be engaged to identify any budgetary risks associated with the delivery of the service and any potential mitigations. The Authority’s legal team would review the procurement process and the terms and conditions for each procurement to ensure the procurement complied with all UK procurement legislation and the Authority mitigated any commercial risk. Consultation and engagement with the market and any relevant associations would take place to ensure that the offer to the market was attractive and that a market existed to deliver the goods and services. An evaluation team consisting of subject matter experts and the procurement team would evaluate each bid received against the published award criteria and in accordance with UK public procurement legislation. Prior to award of any contract the evaluation result would be provided to the relevant Director to approve the award together with financial assurance that the contract value would remain within existing budgets.

Work was ongoing to develop a process utilising the contract management toolkit as part of the procurement and contract management activity. The Authority’s Social Value priorities and subsequent outcomes used to measure social value follow the priorities within Our North Tyneside Plan: Thriving, Family Friendly, Secure, Caring and Greener.  Social Value requirements had been an important aspect of the procurement process since the implementation of The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, and this had directly resulted in benefits for communities across the borough. It had proven a challenging task however, to ensure that the commitments made through the procurement process were upheld throughout the contract period. Work is currently being undertaken to ensure that Social Value is monitored and measured effectively through the Authority’s contract management toolkit. The Authority’s contracted suppliers would each have their own corporate social responsibility approaches; through contract management the Authority would work with them to help shape their social value objectives towards policy priorities of the Mayor and Cabinet.

Social Value gained for the Borough would be monitored and reported to Cabinet as a minimum on an annual basis. Appendix 2 of the report provided Cabinet with a Social Value Update for the period April 2022 to March 2023.Social Value commitments made by contractors and suppliers had been closely reviewed this year. Initially, historic Social Value offers were discussed with the Authority’s suppliers and contractors, specifically where due to the pandemic, Social Value commitments had been delayed or cancelled. The Procurement/Commercial Team worked closely with both North Tyneside VODA and the North Tyneside Learning Trust to identify voluntary groups, schools and local organisations who could benefit as a result from the supply chain social value commitments.

Since March 2022, the updated Social Value Matrix had been piloted in 35 procurement projects across all service areas to ensure the measures were appropriate and enabled the Authority to engage with its supply chain and review feedback on the Authority’s procurement process. Each of these procurement projects required at least one greener commitment to be made. The commitments made by the successful contractors were monitored across the contract period through a contract management toolkit. Recently Social Value presentations had been held with suppliers and potential suppliers which had encouraged suppliers to gain further knowledge of Social Value and to identify specific local organisations that they could help whilst potentially improving their Social Value responses when applying for tenders locally and nationwide. The Procurement / Commercial Team would continue to engage with the Authority’s Contractors and Suppliers during the 2023/2024 financial year.

Cabinet considered the following decision options: to accept the recommendations set out in paragraph 1.2 of the report,or alternatively, to not approve the recommendations and to consider individual reports for each package of works and/or services. This may delay implementation of essential services and works being carried out.

Resolved that (1) the procurement of the goods and services as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report, be approved;

(2)  the relevant Director in consultation with the relevant Cabinet Member,

Director of Resources and the Head of Law, be authorised to commence the procurements identified and award contracts to those bidders who submit the most advantageous tenders in accordance with UK public procurement legislation; and

(3)  the Social Value Update for the period April 2022 to March 2023 at

Appendix 2 to the report be noted; and social value to be monitored and reported to Cabinet as a minimum on an annual basis.

(Reason for decision:The Authority has a duty to obtain value for money. Tendering the opportunities identified in the report will meet the priorities contained within the Procurement Strategy and the Our North Tyneside Plan.)