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Report 8 of the 1 December 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 (July 2011-September 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: 8
Date: 1 December 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 (July 2011-September 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 STA’s against each of the legal exemption types and provides a summary of the number and value of those approved and declined.

A. Recommendations

That members

  1. Note the summary of competed tenders received in the second quarter of 2011/12 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 12 September 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 March 2012 to the Resources and Productivity Sub-Committee.

Management Information

3. A variation to the Capgemini contract was approved by the Authority on 22 April 2010 and processed that month. This does not form part of the data in tables 1 and 2.

4. Table 1 - the number of requests by month for contract action (Form 1049) received since April 2010.

Table 1 - Requests for contract action (including Variations, Extensions and Single Tender Actions detailed in Tables 2 and 3)

2010/11 2011/12
Number Value - £m Number Value - £m
April 58 (1) 46.5 47 8.5
May 54 27.1 (7) 60 (7) 41.5
June 69 (2) 46.7 46 8.7
July (3) 47 33.2 (8) 62 (8) 26.6
August (3) 62 29.2 30 3.8
September (3) 68 15.9 40 11.4
October (4) 79 (4) 30.7
November (4) 92 (4) 48.7
December (4) 49 (4) 19.2
January 76 (5) 47.3
February 90 17.8
March 119 (6) 31.4
TOTAL 854 393.7 285 100.5

Notes:

(1)-(2) Comments were reported in ‘Request for Contract Action - Management Information Report’ dated 13 September 2010.

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

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

(5)-(6) Comments were reported in ‘Request for Contract Action - Management Information Report’ dated 13 June 2011.

(7) Comments were reported in ‘Request for Contract Action - Management Information Report’ dated 12 September 2011.

(8) The greatest number of requests for contract action for July came from DoI (49) with a total value of £21,790,056. Of the requests received, 23 were variations or extensions with a total value of £3,618,974 and 32 were STA's with a total value of £8,900,811. 12 of the STA’s were approved with a total value of £2,280,164 and 20 were declined with a total value of £6,648,282. The increased figures for July include a number of high valued contracts including the Electronic Security and Audio Visual Systems maintenance contract (£10.0m), Radio warranties (£2.9m), renewal of the provision of C&C Services (£1m) and the Corporate Real Estate Decommission/Migrations (£1.0m).

5. Table 2 - the number of requests processed by month for variations or extensions to existing contracts since April 2010. These outline where a non-competitive approach has been taken by virtue of the fact that they were either a variation or an extension to an existing contract.

Table 2 - Number and Value of Variations and Extensions processed

2010/11 2011/12
Number Value - £m Number Value - £m
April 31 3.9 15 1.2
May 27 3.5 (12) 20 (12) 18.4
June 24 4.2 11 1.7
July 19 2.4 (13) 23 3.6
August 25 (9) 5.3 11 0.9
September 23 3.2 20 3.3
October (10) 22 (10) 19.7
November (10) 27 (10) 15.1
December (10) 15 (10) 1.1
January 23 3.2
February 28 4.2
March 28 (11) 18.5
TOTAL 292 84.3 100 29.1

Notes:

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

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

(11) Comments were reported in ‘Request for Contract Action - Management Information Report’ dated 13 June 2011.

(12) Comments were reported in ‘Request for Contract Action - Management Information Report’ dated 12 September 2011.

(13) Please see note (8) above for explanation.

6. Table 3 - the number of single tender actions requested since April 2010. 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

2010/11 2011/12
Number Value - £m Number Value - £m
April 15 0.9 19 2.4
May 21 (15) 5.2 (18) 21 (18) 4.2
June 19 2.6 18 0.9
July 15 0.7 (19) 32 (19) 8.9
August 22 0.9 16 0.9
September 35 2.2 11 0.8
October (16) 20 (16) 1.5
November (16) 39 (16) 14.9
December (16) 22 (16) 1.7
January (17) 23 2.0
February (17) 44 3.4
March (17) 57 3.6
TOTAL 332 39.8 117 18.1

Notes:

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

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

(17) Comment was reported in ‘Request for Contract Action - Management Information Report’ dated 13 June 2011.

(18) Comment was reported in ‘Request for Contract Action - Management Information Report’ dated 12 September 2011.

(19) Please see note (8) above for explanation.

9. Table 4 details the 59 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
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 20 18 2.31 6.16
A contract following a previously advertised design contest 3 4 0.62 0.05
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 1 1 0.01 0.01
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 0.07 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 1 0.02 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 1 1 0.11 0.86
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 0.09 0.00
To take advantage of particularly advantageous terms for the purchase of goods in a closing down sale 2 0 0.08 0.00
Replacement goods which can only be sourced from the same contract 3 1 0.14 0.05
Totals 33 26 3.45 7.15

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 (SME’s).

Consideration of Met Forward

2. By ensuring the number of tenders that follow a competitive process is maximized, 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 was £41.8m. The value of approved STAs during this time was £3.45m. The data demonstrates that the majority of spend has been tendered competitively or sourced through variation/extensions within existing contracts

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 with a value over the relevant EU thresholds are required to be awarded in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 (as amended) and advertised through OJEU unless an exemption or exclusion from the Regulations applies. EC Treaty principles and the MPA Contract Regulations must also be adhered to for all contracts, regardless of their value.

6. MPA/MPS Governance procedures require all contract award reports with a value that exceeds £1m 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 (including Health and Safety) Implications

9. All requests for contract actions have been dealt with in the 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

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