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Report 9 of the 13 June 2011 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 (January 2011 to March 2011), with a particular focus on the requests that fall under the remit of Single Tender Actions (STA) and submitted via the associated form 1049.

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Requests for contract action – management information

Report: 9
Date: 13 June 2011
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 (January 2011 to March 2011), 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 requests for STA’s and analysis of data is incorporated in Appendices A and B which are exempt.

A. Recommendations

That members

  1. Note the summary contained within this report and attached appendices A and B (Exempt) of competed tenders received in the fourth 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 14 March 2011.

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 12 September 2011 to the Resources and Productivity Sub-Committee.

3. The next report, due 12 September 2011, will not include data from 2009/10 as the baseline year for comparison of will be 2010/11.

Management Information

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 in tables 1 and 2 for reporting purposes, as the high value of the variation would skew the results. For further information, see Appendix A (Exempt).

5. Appendix B (Exempt) details further evaluations of requests for contract actions processed.

6. 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 (5) 46.5
May 57 27.5 54 27.1
June 94 16.5 69 (6) 46.7
July (1) 117 70.1 (7) 47 33.2
August 92 27.5 (7) 62 29.2
September (1) 116 22.4 (7) 68 15.9
October 97 61.8 (8) 79 (8) 30.7
November 78 41.9 (8) 92 (8) 48.7
December 87 (2) 149.4 (8) 49 (8) 19.2
January 96 71.5 76 (9) 47.3
February 108 (3) 135.7 90 17.8
March 97 (4) 12.7 119 (10) 31.4
TOTAL 1080 651.3 854 393.7

Notes:

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

(5)-(6) Comments were reported in ‘Request for Contract Action - Management Information report’ dated 13 September 2010.

(7) Comments were reported in’ Request for Contract Action - Management Information report’ dated 6 December 2010.

(8) Comments were reported in’ Request for Contract Action - Management Information report’ dated 14 March 2011.

(9) - (10) Two high value requests received, one in January and one in March, of total value £38 million. See Appendix A (Exempt).

7. 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 - Number and Value of Variations and 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 19 2.4
August 32 3.2 25 (14) 5.3
September (11) 65 (12) 18.3 23 3.2
October 35 4.6 (15) 22 (15) 19.7
November 14 2.2 (15) 27 (15) 15.1
December 28 (13) 12.4 (15) 15 (15) 1.1
January 38 6.4 23 3.2
February 26 1.7 28 4.2
March 60 4.8 28 (16) 18.5
TOTAL 415 65.5 292 84.3

Notes:

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

(14) Comments were reported in ‘Request for Contract Action - Management Information report’ dated 6th December 2010.

(15) Comments were reported in ‘Request for Contract Action - Management Information report’ dated 14 March 2011.

(16) High value relates to one variation requested for £14.8 million. See note 10, Appendix A (Exempt).

8. Table 3 details the number of single tender actions requested since April 2009. These outline where a non- competitive approach has been taken by virtue of the fact that they were Single Tender Actions (STA).

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 (18) 5.2
June 15 1.7 19 2.6
July 28 1.4 15 0.7
August 18 1.1 22 0.9
September 33 3.3 35 2.2
October 26 4.6 (19) 20 (19) 1.5
November 16 0.7 (19) 39 (19) 14.9
December 26 3.2 (19) 22 (19) 1.7
January 23 (17) 12.6 (20) 23 2.0
February 21 2.2 (20) 44 3.4
March 58 2.3 (20) 57 3.6
TOTAL 300 37.6 332 39.8

Notes:

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

(18) Comment was reported in ‘Request for Contract Action - Management Information report’ dated 13 September 2010.

(19) Comment was reported in ‘Request for Contract Action - Management Information report’ dated 14 March 2011.

(20) Of the 124 requests for single tender actions in this quarter, 39 (31%) were declined, see breakdown in table 4 below. For the declined request, alternative appropriate purchasing route were followed.

9. Table 4 details the 124 requests for an exemption/ exclusion to competitive tendering (single tender action) considered by Procurement Services during the reporting period. The data 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

Exemption/ Exclusion Types Number received Value received
Approved Declined Approved - £m Declined - £m
Absence of appropriate tenders following a previously advertised procurement 1 0 0.06 0.00
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 (21) 52 22 2.10 4.08
A contract following a previously advertised design contest 4 5 0.16 0.17
Contract classified as secret, or requires special security measures in accordance with the law, or secrecy is required for the essential interests of the security of the UK 12 3 0.25 0.21
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 1 0 0.04 0.00
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 1 2 0.05 0.02
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 5 2 0.24 0.03
When goods to be purchased or hired under the contract are to be manufactured solely for the purpose of research, experiment, study or development 3 0 0.11 0.00
To take advantage of particularly advantageous terms for the purchase of goods in a closing down sale. 2 0 0.09 0.00
Replacement goods which can only be sourced from the same contract 3 3 0.31 0.95
Totals 85 39 3.41 5.47

Note:

(21) Of the 52 Single Tender Requests approved as part of only supplier, 36 (69%) were for IT related items.

10. Table 5 details annual totals for 2009/10 & 2010/11, requests for an exemption/ exclusion to competitive tendering (single tender action) considered by Procurement Services during the reporting period. The data is broken down by both number and value against each of the exemption types claimed, and indicates whether they were approved or declined. See Appendix B for further analysis.

Table 5 - Single Tender Actions processed during 2009/10 / 2010/11

Exemption/ Exclusion Types Number received Value received
Approved Declined Approved - £m Declined - £m
2009/10 2010/11 2009/10 2010/11 2009/10 2010/11 2009/10 2010/11
Absence of appropriate tenders …… 2 1 0 0 0.1 0.6 0.0 0.0
For technical or artistic reasons… 150 152 36 56 18.6 7.2 1.5 9.8
A contract following design contest….. 4 13 3 15 0.8 0.4 0.6 0.8
Contract classified as secret….. 30 28 3 8 3.5 1.8 2.6 2.5
Additional works or services which were not foreseen… 12 3 3 0 3.9 0.0 0.1 0.2
Work or services similar in nature to that covered by a previous tendered contract… 10 8 7 10 0.6 0.2 0.1 8.7
A genuine unforeseeable event … 14 6 6 1 2.6 0.3 1.1 0.0
When goods solely for the purpose of research…….. 4 4 0 0 0.3 0.2 0.0 0.0
Purchase of goods in a closing down sale. .. 1 7 1 0 0.1 0.5 0.3 0.0
Replacement goods which can only be sourced from the same contract 10 8 1 9 0.3 1.2 0.03 1.2
MPS caused urgency 2 0 1 3 0.6 0.0 0.0 4.8
Totals 239 230 61 102 31.4 12.4 6.3 27.7

11. In this quarter, there were two purchase orders, total value £74,771, were raised against Specialist Computer Centre (SCC) mandated framework (Sprint 2).

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).

Consideration of MET Forward

2. By ensuring the number of tenders that follow a competitive process is maximised, follow EU Procurement law and MPA Contract Regulations, we support the delivery of the Procurement element of Met Support by improving our infrastructure, driving out waste, improving value for money and concentrating resources on fighting crime.

Financial Implications

3. The total value of all contract actions for the reporting quarter period was £96.5m. The value of approved STA’s during this time was £3.4m. The data demonstrates that the vast majority of spend (£93.1m) has been tendered competitively or sourced through variation/ extensions within existing contracts. This represents (96%) through preferred routes, demonstrating that every effort has been made to achieve value for money in the procurement process.

4. The costs associated with the activities set out above are covered within existing budgets, as approved in the Medium Term Finance 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

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

6. MPA/MPS Governance procedures require all contract award reports with a value that exceeds £1 million to be submitted for scrutiny and approval to the MPS Management Board, Contracts Board and/ or the MPA. DLS form part of the governance process to ensure compliance with the procurement regime and will address relevant issues within the Legal Implications of the covering report.

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

Environmental Implications

8. 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

9. 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.

D. Background papers

None

E. Contact details

Report authors: Lee Tribe, Director of Procurement Services, Resources Directorate (DoR), MPS

For more information contact:

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

PART 2: EXEMPT SECTION OF THE REPORT

1. The reasons for Appendix A and B are 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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