Issue - meetings

Changes to constitution - financial and contract standing orders

Meeting: 02/07/2018 - Democracy Committee (Item 18)

18 Proposed Changes to Constitution - Financial and Contract Procedure Rules pdf icon PDF 73 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Ms Georgia Hawkes, the Head of Commissioning and Business Improvement, introduced her report recommending changes to simplify the Contract Procedure Rules in the Council’s Constitution, improve compliance and manage procurement risk.  It was noted that:

 

·  The simplification of the Contract Procedure Rules was proposed following a recent review of procurement by Internal Audit which identified some compliance issues and problems with services not always following the correct procurement processes.  As part of the management response to the Internal Audit report, the Council commissioned a Procurement Consultant to review the Contract Procedure Rules.

 

·  It was recognised, as part of this review, that the current regulations and processes were more complicated than necessary and that poor compliance was mainly due to lack of awareness rather than malicious avoidance.  It became clear that the parts of the Constitution relating to procurement and contracts ought to be easier to understand, so a number of changes were proposed, including replacing some wording with flowcharts and removing any duplication.  The changes also gave rise to a small number of changes to the Financial Procedure Rules.

 

·  Simplification of the Contract Procedure Rules was just one of the measures being taken to improve compliance with the Council’s procurement processes.  For example, an easy to follow Purchasing Guide had been prepared by the Procurement Consultant and the Procurement Team to help Officers understand the correct processes and key Officers had been trained on this.

 

·  Whilst the majority of the proposed changes were to simplify the wording of the Contract Procedure Rules, a few additional changes to the Constitution were proposed as follows:

 

Changing the levels at which contracts are required to be sealed;

 

Increasing the emphasis on the need for contracts to be signed or sealed before commencement of works/services:

 

Removing the need for a risk assessment for all procurements over £10k; and

 

Removing reference to the submission and opening of paper tenders.

 

The Head of Legal Partnership advised the Committee that she wished to amend recommendation 2 of the report to clarify that it was proposed that the level for sealing of contracts for non-construction projects be increased to £1m unless it was deemed by her that a non-construction contract for a lower amount required execution under seal.

 

In response to questions by Members:

 

The Head of Legal Partnership explained that:

·  She was seeking delegated authority to review the proposed revisions and incorporate appropriate changes to the Constitution to ensure that works, goods and services were appropriately commissioned and to undertake a cross-referencing exercise with other sections of the document, including the Scheme of Delegations, to ensure compliance with legislative requirements and consistency, prior to Council approval.

 

·  The new compulsory Procurement Plan ensured that Legal Services were involved as required in the formulation of contracts above £75k.  The Council already used standard contracts, but the Legal Services and Procurement Teams were currently reviewing the standard contracts to see if they needed to be updated.  They were also working on guidance for services on how to use standard contracts  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18