The Council is requested to agree the following recommendation of the Constitution and Standards Committee held on 29 September 2022:

That the changes to the Contract Procedure Rules be adopted as part of the Council’s Constitution.

Constitution and Standards minute 16 (29/9/22) and report attached.

The first matter requiring approval was the biennial review of the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules (CPR) which regulate the way in which the Council’s contracts were procured.

On a motion by Councillor Tony Cox, seconded by Councillor Julie McManus, it was –

Resolved (unanimously) – That the changes to the Contract Procedure Rules be adopted as part of the Council’s Constitution.

Principal Lawyer Mr Hughes introduced the report of the Head of Legal Services (Deputy Monitoring Officer)

The report outlined the recommendations of the Audit and Risk Management Committee in respect of the Review of Contract Procedure Rules.

The Chair noted that he was a Member of the Audit and Risk Management Committee and queried if an interest needed to be declared. The Head of Legal Services confirmed that this would not preclude the Chair from taking part in the debate.

Members noted the recommendation from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) to empower Council officers to accept single quotations of under £25,000 in value without competition to speed up the procurement process, and asked for reassurance that officers could not make multiple purchases of just below £25,000 without some oversight.

The Principal Lawyer noted that such purchases can only be made by senior procuring officers and that there would always be an audit trail.

Members noted that the report to Audit and Risk Management Committee stated that the proposed Contract Procedure Rules have a Best Value and a Social Value criteria and questioned how much weighting was given to either of these criteria.

The Principal Lawyer noted that they were intertwined and that for a contract to be most economically advantageous, social value had to be taken into account under the Contract Procedure Rules, with a minimum weight of 5% to be taken into account for a tender.

Councillor Julie McManus requested that further investigation be made into how Social Value is considered during the tender process. The Chair agreed that he would seek further clarification from officers after the meeting and feedback to Members of the Committee.

On a motion by Councillor Tony Cox, seconded by Councillor Phil Gilchrist it was –

Resolved –

To recommend the adoption of the changes to the Contract Procedure Rules to Full Council as part of the Council’s Constitution

The Committee’s Solicitor presented the report of the Director of Law and Governance which detailed proposed changes to the Contract Procedure Rules following a review of the provisions. They had to be reviewed every two years. Some of the changes were technical regarding change of rules such as those caused by leaving the EU. Others derived from a report by CIPFA which recommended that the limits for contracts being allowed by officers be changed to speed up contracts where there was little risk and the value for money was recognised.

Members queried the detail in the report and expressed reservations regarding the level and route for reporting of breaches in section 3.2.3. They felt the new version weakened the controls.

Councillor Tony Cox proposed that for section 3.2.3 the original text be preserved.

This was seconded by the Chair and agreed by assent.

Members also clarified the procedures around the opening of tenders and requested a process map to help people unfamiliar with the process.

Resolved –

That the changes to the Contract Procedure Rules that are highlighted in the appendix to this report be approved with the exception of section 3.2.3 where the original text is to be preserved, and Constitutional and Standards Committee be asked to recommend their adoption by the full Council as part of the Council’s Constitution.