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Report 9 of the 13 September 2010 meeting of the Resources and Productivity Sub-committee, sets out the summary of requests for contract action received in Procurement Services within the last quarter, with a particular focus on the requests that fall under the remit of Single Tender Actions (STA).

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Requests for contract action – management information

Report: 9
Date: 13 September 2010
By: Director of Resources on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report sets out the summary of requests for contract action received in Procurement Services within the last quarter (April 2010 - June 2010), with a particular focus on the requests that fall under the remit of Single Tender Actions (STA) and submitted via the associated form 1049. The report provides details of compliance with EU Procurement law and the MPA Contract Regulations by providing members with information on the number of requests for STAs against each of the legal exemption types and provides a summary of the number and value of those approved and declined. The ‘exempt’ detailed in Appendix 1.

A. Recommendations

That Members

  1. Members note the summary of competed tenders received in the first quarter of 2010/11 and the control of single tender exemptions through Procurement Services and the MPA.
  2. Note that further updates will continue to be provided to the Resources and Productivity Sub-committee on a quarterly basis.

B. Supporting information

1. Members have previously agreed the content and presentation format of the Contract Action - Management Information report, on a quarterly basis, to afford them the opportunity to have sight of contracting activity that is not competed, but undertaken compliantly with EU Procurement law and MPA Regulations. The report (“Update on the control of Single Tender Actions”) was last presented to the MPA Resources and Productivity Sub-committee on 5 July 2010.

2. Requests for Contract Action - This management information report will continue to be presented to Members on a quarterly basis. The next update will be issued on 8th December 2010 to the Resources and Productivity Sub-committee.

Management information

3. Following a request from the Authority, the data is now presented for the full financial year in order that year on year comparisons can be made. It is now possible to show a comparison between the first quarters of 2009/10 and 2010/11.

4. A variation to the CapGemini contract was approved by the Authority on 22nd April 2010 and processed that month. This does not form part of data tables 1 and 2 for reporting purposes, as the high value of the variation would skew the results. For further information, see Appendix 1 - Exempt.

5. Table 1 details the number of requests by month for contract action (Form 1049) received since April 2009.

Table 1 - Requests for contract action

  2009/10 2010/11
  Number Value - £m Number Value - £m
April 41 14.3 58 40.4 (5)
May 57 27.5 56 27.1
June 94 16.5 75 46.7 (6)
July 117 (1) 70.1    
August 92 27.5    
September 116 (1) 22.4    
October 98 61.9    
November 78 41.9    
December 87 149.4 (2)    
January 96 71.5    
February 107 134.7 (3)    
March 97 12.7 (4)    

Notes

(1)-(4) Comments were reported in ‘Request for Contract Action - Management Information report’ dated 5 July 2010.

(5) See Appendix 1 - Exempt

(6) Six requests received for various competitive tendering were for a value greater than £2.5m within a total value of £23.9m. See Appendix 1 - Exempt

6. Table 2 details the number of requests processed by month for variations or extensions to existing contracts since April 2009. These outline where a non- competitive approach has been taken by virtue of the fact they were either a variation or an extension to an existing contract.

Table 2 - Requests for Variations or Extensions processed

  2009/10 2010/11
  Number Value - £m Number Value - £m
April 3 0.1 31 3.9
May 31 1.9 27 3.5
June 41 3.2 24 4.2
July 42 6.7    
August 32 3.2    
September 65 (7) 18.3 (8)    
October 35 4.6    
November 14 2.2    
December 28 12.4 (9)    
January 38 6.4    
February 26 1.7    
March 60 4.8    

Notes

(7)-(9) Comments were reported in ‘Request for Contract Action - Management Information report’ dated 5 July 2010.

7. Table 3 details the number of single tender actions processed by month since April 2009. These outline where a non-competitive approach has been taken by virtue of the fact that they were single tender actions.

Table 3 - Single tender actions processed

  2009/10 2010/11
  Number Value - £m Number Value - £m
April 14 1.1 15 0.9
May 22 3.4 21 5.2 (11)
June 15 1.7 19 2.6
July 28 1.4    
August 18 1.1    
September 33 3.3    
October 26 4.6    
November 16 0.7    
December 26 3.2    
January 24 12.8 (10)    
February 20 2.0    
March 58 2.3    

Notes

(10) Comment was reported in ‘Request for Contract Action - Management Information report’ dated 5 July 2010.

(11) Two (2) requests were received for single tender actions as an urgent requirement due to the late submission of the requests. Both were declined and are being processed via a competitive tendering route. For further information, see Appendix 1 - Exempt

8. Table 4 details the fifty three (53) requests for an exemption/ exclusion to competitive tendering (single tender action) considered by Procurement Services during the reporting period. This table excludes two (2) requests at a value of £4.76m that were declined as the urgency was caused by the late submission of the requests. The data in table 4 is broken down by both number and value against each of the exemption types claimed, and indicates whether they were approved or declined.

Table 4 - Single Tender Actions processed during the quarter

Legal Exemption Types (12) Number received Value received
Approved Declined Approved - £m Declined - £m
Absence of appropriate tenders following a previously advertised procurement 0 0 0 0
For technical or artistic reasons, or for reasons connected with protection of exclusive rights, the services, supplier or works may be provided only by a particular provider 36 4 2.74 0.13
A contract following a previously advertised design contest 3 4 0.09 0.28
For security reasons advertising would not be in the best interest of the Authority 3 0 0.60 0
Additional works or services which were not foreseen at the time of contract award but have now become necessary for the performance of a previously tendered contract 0 0 0 0
Work or services similar in nature to that covered by a previous tendered contract and have now become necessary for the performance of that contract 0 0 0 0
A genuine unforeseeable event arose which is not attributable to the Authority and competition was impracticable where the urgency of need is such that it did not permit the full procurement process to be carried out 0 0 0 0
When goods to be purchased or hired under the contract are to be manufactured solely for the purpose of research, experiment, study or development         1 0 0.06 0
To take advantage of particularly advantageous terms for the purchase of goods in a closing down sale 1 0 0.02 0
Replacement goods which can only be sourced from the same contract 1 0 0.03 0
Totals 45 8 3.54 0.41

Notes

(12) The above exemptions have been paraphrased from the exemptions and exclusion contained within the Public Contract Regulations 2006.

9. Two requests were processed during the reporting period that requested a single tender action due to the late submission of the request. Both were declined and are being processed via a competitive tendering route. For further information see Appendix 1 - Exempt, Note 11.

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and diversity impact

1. There are no specific race, equality or diversity implications arising from this report, but it is notable that equality of opportunity is promoted by competitive tendering processes. This pertains especially to the support of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

Financial implications

2. The data demonstrates that the vast majority of spend (86.2%) has been tendered competitively and, therefore, every effort to achieve value for money in the procurement process has been taken.

3. The costs associated with the activities set out above are covered within existing budgets, as approved in the 2010/13 Business Plan. Individual contract actions will be approved through the normal MPS/MPA approval process and any specific savings generated through these individual contracts will be recognised in future Business Group Business Plan submissions.

Legal implications

4. All contracts are required to be let in accordance with the Public Contract Regulations 2006, EC Treaty principles and the MPA Contract Regulations.

5 MPA/MPS Governance procedures require all contract reports to be submitted for scrutiny and approval to the Management Board, Contracts Board and/ or the MPA’s standing orders. DLS form part of the governance process to ensure compliance with the procurement regime and will address relevant issues within the Legal Implications.

6. There are no direct legal implications arising from this report which is submitted as part of the Governance process and performance monitoring.

Environmental implications

7. Whilst there may be environmental implications when individual requests for contract actions are processed, no additional environmental implications arise at this stage of management information reporting.

Risk implications

8. All requests for contract actions have been dealt within appropriate time frame and established procedures, thus reducing the risk of non compliance and supplier challenge to the MPA/ MPS

C. Race and equality impact

There are none specific to this report.

D. Financial implications

The financial implications are those set out in the appendices to this report.

E. Legal implications

None given.

F. Background papers

  • None

G. Contact details

Report authors: David Woosey, Acting Director of Procurement Services, Resources Directorate (DoR), MPS

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

PartT 2: Exempt section of the report

1. The reason for Appendix 1 is shown as ‘Exempt’ is under Paragraph 3 of the Local Government Act 1972 - which states that information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information). It is not considered to be in public interest to disclose the level of detail contained in this report.

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