Report of the Strategic Lead – Commissioning.

This report updates the Committee on the Council’s key contracts, its approach to procurement of these contracts and assessments of how to source contracts due for renewal and/or extension.

The committee considered a report of the Strategic Lead (Commissioning) that provided an update on the Council’s key contracts, its approach to procurement of these contracts and assessments of how to source contracts due for renewal and/or extension.  

Key points and themes within the report included: 

·       An overview of major service contracts, including expiry dates and extension options;  

·       Delivery model assessments for renewing contracts; 

·       Work of the Major Contracts Board; 

·       Planned recommissions for major contracts; and 

·       Wider work on contract management.  

Some of the key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussion included: 

·       Expressing concern that the Council did not have the infrastructure in place for insourcing of services; 

·       Requesting a Part B report in the new municipal year to provide further detail on the Council’s major contracts;  

·       The importance of Sure Start centres and that the Council should consider managing these as a whole rather than individual facilities;  

·       Difficulties in understanding and measuring contractual oversight without qualitative methods, and querying how this could be presented in future; 

·       How break clauses and break points worked, with specific reference to the housing maintenance and repairs contract; 

·       What was different as a result of the Council’s ‘Insourcing First’ motion which stipulated that insourcing should be the default option for services;   

The Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer explained that the report provided an update on the work of the Major Contracts Board, and she thanked officers for their work, particularly in developing the Sourcing Policy.  

In response to queries regarding insourcing, the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer stated that there was a robust roadmap behind the delivery model assessments of the infrastructure required for insourcing in specific areas.  

The Strategic Lead (Commissioning) stated that work was ongoing with various services, such as Highways and Homelessness, to assess how contract management and oversight could be improved further. He acknowledged that there was a challenge in summarising performance, but he would look at how this could be reported to the committee in future. He explained that a summary dashboard on performance was provided to the Major Contracts Board and that the service worked with Contract Managers to strengthen key performance indicators.  

In response to a query regarding break points and break clauses in the housing repairs and maintenance contract, the Head of Integrated Procurement and Commissioning explained that this contract had the option to extend for 3 years and discussions had been undertaken with regards to the future management of the contract. He stated that an extension had been negotiated and there was a potential to break the contract either 12 or 24 months before the contract expired. He explained that these dates had been selected to ensure that the necessary infrastructure was in place to insource the contract at the best possible time for the Council and to ensure service continuity. He stated that lessons had been learned from bringing management of the Northwards housing stock in-house.  

The Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer stated that a full feasibility study was undertaken for any contract decision as a result of the Council’s ‘Insourcing First’ motion and the work of the Major Contracts Board. The Strategic Lead (Commissioning) reiterated this and stated that there was a greater rigour when assessing the potential for insourcing of contracts as a result of the motion passed by Council and that there had been learning from previous insourced contracts. He explained that smaller contracts were also assessed for insourcing and that officers worked with services such as Manchester Local Care Organisation (MLCO) to identify options for insourcing.  

The Executive Member for Finance and Resources acknowledged the work of the Head of Integrated Procurement and Commissioning, the Strategic Lead (Commissioning) and their team and stated that, as the relevant Executive Member, he was confident that the Council assessed contracts in advance of their end date and that options appraisals were undertaken to allow sufficient time to implement the necessary infrastructure and changes to bring suitable services in-house.  

Decision: 

That the committee 

1.     notes the report, and  

2.     requests that a further report be considered under Part B in the new municipal year.