Councillor Charles Buchan (substitute for Provost Bill Howatson) (Aberdeenshire Council); Provost Norman Macdonald (Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar); Councillor Altany Craik (Fife Council); Bailie Norman MacLeod (Glasgow City Council); Councillor John Shaw (Renfrewshire Council); and Councillor Amanda Hawick (Shetland Council).

Councillor Stephen Thompson (Dumfries and Galloway Council).

Councillor Shaw, Convener, presided.

J Welsh, Director, H Carr, Head of Strategic Procurement, and B Philips, Category Analyst (all Scotland Excel); M Conaghan, Legal & Democratic Services Manager, E Currie, Senior Committee Services Officer and K O’Neill, Assistant Democratic Services Officer (all Renfrewshire Council).

Councillor Buchan entered the meeting during consideration of the following item of business.

Provost Bill Howatson (Aberdeenshire Council); Councillor Graham Hutchison (City of Edinburgh Council); Councillor Alister Mackinnon (Highland Council); Councillor Paul Di Mascio (North Lanarkshire Council); and Councillor Collette Stevenson (South Lanarkshire Council).

There were no declarations of interest intimated prior to commencement of the meeting.

There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of the Executive Sub-committee held on 22 March 2019.

In relation to item 8 of the Minute – Legal Challenge: Supply and Delivery of Grounds Maintenance – it was noted that the legal challenge to this contract had been withdrawn and that Scotland Excel would pursue the third party for costs.

DECIDED: 

(a) That the Minute be approved; and

(b) That it be noted that the legal challenge to the supply and delivery of grounds maintenance contract had been withdrawn and that Scotland Excel would pursue the third party for costs.

The Director and the Head of Strategic Procurement of Scotland Excel gave a presentation to members providing an update on the various projects being undertaken by Scotland Excel.

In relation to consultancy with councils, information was provided on the projects being undertaken with Aberdeen City Council, Fife Council, East Renfrewshire Council and the Tayside collaboration which included Perth and Kinross, Angus and Dundee City Councils, Tayside Contracts, and Tayside Procurement Consortium (TPC).

In relation to Scottish Government funded projects, information was provided on the care and support services national framework; the expansion of early learning and childcare and the development of national guidance and templates; and the affordable housing project. 

Information was also presented to members on the work being undertaken with the Digital Office; the SEEMiS Group; City Property; Cycling Scotland; and the new build housing framework.

Councillor Thompson requested further information on the pricing methodology for projects and it was agreed that this would be forwarded to Councillor Thompson.

DECIDED: 

(a) That the presentation be noted; and

(b) That it be noted that further information on the pricing methodology for projects would be forwarded to Councillor Thompson.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Scotland Excel relative to a renewal framework arrangement for the supply and delivery of building and timber materials which would operate from 1 April 2019 (effective date 1 June 2019) until 31 March 2022 with an option to extend for up to 12 months until 31 March 2023. 

The report intimated that the framework would provide councils and other participating bodies with a mechanism to procure a range of building and timber materials in support of construction projects, ongoing maintenance schedules and ad-hoc repairs. Building on best practice timber sustainability, this fourth-generation framework enhanced benefits offered to members by introducing lots for kitchen units, kitchen worktops and timber window frames.  A new approach of delivering local community benefits had also been incorporated.

The framework had been divided into ten lots as detailed in table 1 of the report and the forecast annual spend for participating councils and associate members was £15 million, equating to £60 million over the term of the framework, including the extension period. It was noted that 31 councils had confirmed their intention to participate in the framework together with City Building Glasgow, Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges (APUC), the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) and housing associations and the participation, spend and savings summary for each was detailed in Appendix 1 to the report.  Stirling Council had their own arrangement in place until 31 March 2019 and advised that this would be extended.

Tender responses had been received from 25 suppliers and a summary of offers received was provided in Appendix 2 to the report.  Based on the criteria and scoring methodology set out within the tender document, a full evaluation of the offers had been completed and Appendix 3 to the report detailed the scoring achieved by each bidder.  

Based on the evaluation undertaken and in line with the criteria and weightings detailed within the report it was recommended that a multi-supplier framework arrangement be awarded to 23 suppliers across lots one to nine as detailed in Appendix 3 to the report. It was noted that Lot ten, Glazing Materials, had not been recommended for award.

Appendix 4 to the report detailed suppliers with Living Wage status.

DECIDED: That the award of the renewal framework agreement, for the supply and delivery of building and timber materials, for lots one to nine, be awarded as detailed in Appendix 3 to the report.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Scotland Excel advising that the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership Scotland (HITRANS) had submitted an application to become an associate member of Scotland Excel.

 

The report provided details of the organisation and the legislative position in relation to the application.

DECIDED: That the application by Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership Scotland (HITRANS) to become an associate member of Scotland Excel, at an annual membership fee of £500, be approved subject to completion and signing of the agreement documentation.

There was submitted an update report by the Director of Scotland Excel relative to the progress of the 2019/20 contract delivery plan.

The report intimated that the contract delivery plan comprised framework renewals, new developments, framework extensions and frameworks with ongoing contract management only and appendices 1 to 3 to the report provided further details.

The report highlighted that contract delivery remained active with 68 current frameworks in the Scotland Excel portfolio, 13 of which required to be renewed before 31 March 2020; a further eight new frameworks would be added to the contract portfolio by 31 March 2020; and a further 16 frameworks on the current portfolio had extension options that were likely to be exercised in 2019/20, two of which had already been approved.  
 
Scotland Excel was exploring the benefits of further collaborative procurement across high spend, critical service areas of adult social care and construction.  Scotland Excel had finalised the procurement strategy for care and support services and in 2019/20 would continue to work with a range of partners to implement the procurement strategy. Scotland Excel would also deliver a new sourcing strategy for care home services for older people which would build on current best practice and complement local strategic commissioning plans.

The first-generation new build residential construction framework was progressing well and would support councils to deliver new affordable houses in line with Strategic Housing Investment Plans (SHIPs). The second stage of the two-stage tender procedure had been issued in March 2019 and the procurement exercise remained on course for going live in September 2019.

Work continued in conjunction with the Digital Office to procure a replacement Social Work Care Case Management system and a detailed output specification had been developed. Consultation had taken place with Scottish Government colleagues and suggested amendments had been incorporated to include The Public Bodies (Joint Working) Act 2014, which was a key piece of legislation requiring health boards and local authorities to integrate their health and social care services, and the strategy document now took cognisance of self-directed support (SDS), a major change to the way people with social care needs were supported. The tender documents would be released for publication by the end of April 2019.

It was noted that overall, efficiencies delivered to date were 4.2% which was above the 2% to 4% forecast savings range.  It was also noted that the period referred to in the report in relation to the efficiencies delivered to date should be 2019/20 and not 2018/19 as stated.

 

In relation to Appendix 3 of the report, it was noted that information in relation to the percentage uptake of councils in relation to the Children’s Residential contract would be issued to members.

DECIDED: 

(a) That the report be noted; 

(b) That it be noted that the period referred to in the report, in relation to the efficiencies delivered to date, should be 2019/20; and

(c) That it be noted that information in relation to the percentage uptake of councils in relation to the Children’s Residential contract would be issued to members.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Scotland Excel relative to employee absence statistics for Scotland Excel.  The report advised of the absence levels for the period ending 31 March 2019, the previous six and 12 months; and provided information relating to the absence statistics and reasons. 

DECIDED: That the report be noted. 

DECIDED: That it be noted that the next meeting of the Executive Sub-committee would be held at 10.45 am on 31 May 2019 in Scotland Excel Meeting Room 1, Renfrewshire House, Cotton Street, Paisley.