Requests for contract action and update on the control of single tender actions

Report: 5
Date: 1 February 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 (October 2009 - December 2009), 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.

All requests for contract action received during the period have been actioned in accordance with the MPA Contract Regulations and EU Procurement Law.

A. Recommendations

That

1. Members note the summary of competed tenders received in the third quarter of 2009/10 and the control of single tender exemptions through Procurement Services and the MPA.

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 Resources and Productivity Sub-Committee on 5th November 2009.

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 in April 2010 to the Resources and Productivity Sub-Committee.

Management information

3. Table 1 in Appendix 1 details the number of requests for contract action (Form 1049) received for the period. This is broken down by month and outlines non-competitive approaches by virtue of the fact they were variations, extensions or single tender actions. It should be noted that:

• The number of requests for contract action dropped by 20% from the previous quarter, however from a value perspective we saw an increase of just over 50% due to the concentration of a number of high value requests for framework agreements to be competitively tendered for forensic services during the reporting period.
• The number of STA’s requested as a percentage of the total number of requests received each month averaged 16% which was consistent with the previous reporting period (1 April to 30 September 2009).

4. Table 2 in Appendix B details the forty three (43) requests for single tender action considered by Procurement Services in the reporting period. This is broken down by both number and value against each of the exemption types, and indicates whether they were approved or declined. It should be noted that, as with the previous report, the majority of requests for single tender action claim the exemption on the basis that only one supplier is able to provide the service. The reason this exemption type is most often used is most clearly represented by the volume of software support examples where a particular company owns the intellectual property rights (IPR) and that support cannot therefore be provided from elsewhere. Of the forty three (43) requests received, 58% were approved. From a value perspective only 20% of the total value of requests received were approved, however this is explained by one high value request that got declined. This demonstrates that a robust adherence to both the EU Procurement Law and MPA regulations is being actively taken.

5. Exempt Appendix 3 represents the only case involving late submission of a request which resulted in there being insufficient time to re-tender and preserve the continuity of service. All other single tender actions which are listed within Appendix 2, were not approved because they failed to meet the criteria for the exception as set out in Appendix 2.

C. Race and equality 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)

D. Financial implications

1. The data demonstrates that the vast majority of contracts have been tendered competitively and therefore every effort to achieve value for money in the procurement process has been taken. There are no other financial implications arising from this report.

E. Legal implications

1. MPA/MPS Governance procedures require all procurement reports to Management Board, Contracts Board and the MPA to be approved by DLS, who as part of the governance process confirm in the Legal Implications section of the report whether the MPA/MPS have complied with EU and UK procurement law and highlight any relevant risks in this regard.

F. Background papers

None

G. Contact details

Report authors: Anthony Doyle, Director of Procurement Services, MPS

For more information contact:

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

Appendix 1

Table 1 - Breakdown of Requests for Contract Action (Form 1049) received for the third quarter of 2009/10

Note: the individual numbers are subject to rounding but the totals are correct.

Appendix 2

Table 2 - Breakdown of Single Tender Action requests received by type for the third quarter of 2009/10.

Note: the individual numbers are subject to rounding but the totals are correct.

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