Agenda item

CONTRACT PROCEDURE RULES

To consider the attached report.

Minutes:

The Monitoring Officer delivered a presentation on the Contract Procedure Rules (CPRs) to the Committee. The Committee were informed of the purpose of the CPRs and that they had last been agreed when STAR Procurement was originally set up. The review had considered changes in legislation including Brexit and attempts had been made to future proof the CPRs by looking at expected legislative changes. Trafford had led the review from September 2021 and following its conclusion the updated CPRs had to be approved by all four authorities who were members of STAR Procurement. The majority of the CPRs had remained the same, as they were dictated by legislation. One of the main changes was that the level of expenditure which needed only one quote had been increased from £4999 to £9999. The change was made as it had been found that gaining three quotes for small amounts was difficult and caused delays. Provision was provided within the CPRs for local rules to be added for each authority. As it stood no Council had put any local rules in place.


The review provided an opportunity to revise how the CPRs allowed modifications to contracts, especially following lessons learned from the pandemic. The process for extending a contract in exceptional circumstances had been streamlined, as the previous process was arduous and had caused delays during the Covid pandemic. The revised process gave additional grounds to allow the extension of contracts in exceptional circumstances with the agreement of Monitoring Officer or 151 officer.

 

The final slide detailed the process the CPRs had been through for approval with them being taken to Scrutiny on the 15th of March, the Executive on the 21st of March, and Council on the 25th of May 2022. The Monitoring Officer informed the Committee that if they had any series concerns then the CPRs could be taken back to address those issues before moving forward.

 

Following the presentation, the Chair went over the recommendations of the report then gave the Committee the opportunity to ask questions. Councillor Newgrosh asked what percentage of the contracts within the Council were to be affected by the changes. Did not have that to hand but can get that information for Councillor Newgrosh.

 

Mr Brown asked what provisions were in place for conflict resolution between the different STAR Local Authorities. The Monitoring Officer went through the Governance arrangements in place for STAR Procurement and the STAR Joint Committee.

 

Mr Brown noted the number of acronyms used in the document and asked whether it was due to being an internal document or if they required simplifying. The Monitoring Officer drew Mr Brown’s attention to the definitions provided within the document.

 

Mr Brown asked if there was a training and implementation plan for the changes. The Monitoring Officer responded that it would not lead to any great changes in how people worked but training would be provided to the procurement team who would disseminate the information to their colleagues within their respective Councils.

 

Following the questions and responses the recommendations were moved and agreed.

 

RESOLVED: That the report be noted and recommendations agreed.

 

Supporting documents: