Councillor Angus Macmillan Douglas (Angus Council); Provost Norman A Macdonald (Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar); and Councillor Josh Wilson (South Lanarkshire Council).

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

There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of the Executive Sub-committee held on 19 November 2021.

The Head of Strategic Procurement advised the meeting that the report on Contract for Approval: Supply and Distribution of Milk approved on 19 November 2021 had reported the awards on the basis of whole council areas. However, he wished to advise members that for two of the council areas namely, North Ayrshire and Argyll & Bute, the council areas had been broken down in to geographical sublots with a view to potentially increasing the number of tenderers. While there was no change to the awards, Members were asked to note the awards were on the sublot basis.

DECIDED: That the Minute be approved and the update provided by the Head of Strategic Procurement be noted.

Under reference to item 6 of the Minute of the meeting of the Joint Committee held on 18 June 2021, there was submitted a report by the Treasurer relative to Audit Scotland’s findings from the audit of Scotland Excel’s financial statements for 2020/21. 

The report intimated that The Local Authority Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2014 required the audited accounts to be approved for signature no later than 30 September each year.  This year, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, this date had been extended to 30 November 2020. It was noted that there had been delays in Audit Scotland completing the statutory audits of a number of public sector clients and this had resulted in the audited annual accounts of Scotland Excel being presented for approval on 10 December 2021.

Section 10 of the Regulations required the relevant committee to consider any report made by the appointed auditor before deciding whether to sign the audited accounts.

Audit Scotland’s annual audit report formed Appendix 1 to the report and included their opinion that the annual accounts were free from material misstatement and presented a true and fair view of Scotland Excel’s financial position at 31 March 2021 as well as details of adjustments made to the accounts during the course of the audit.

A copy of the audited annual accounts 2020/21 was attached as Appendix 2 to the report.

Following approval, the audited accounts would be submitted to the Convener, Treasurer and Chief Executive of Scotland Excel for secure digital signature. 

DECIDED: 

(a) That the findings of the 2020/21 audit as contained in the external auditor’s annual audit report, which formed Appendix 1 to the report, be noted; and

(b) That the Scotland Excel 2020/21 audited annual accounts, which formed Appendix 2 to the report, be approved for signature.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive of Scotland Excel relative to the award of a new framework for the supply and delivery of musical instruments which would operate from 1 December 2021 until 30 November 2024 with an option to extend for up to 12 months until 30 November 2025.

The framework would provide councils and other participating bodies with a mechanism to procure a wide range of musical instruments and associated accessories. It was noted that the musical instruments to be supplied under this framework were previously included within lot 7 of the education materials framework, schedule 12/20 which had been tendered during summer 2021. At the meeting of this Sub-committee held on 18 June 2021, it was noted that, in order to adequately account for the impact of recent pandemic restrictions for a tender, Scotland Excel did not proceed to award lot 7, musical instruments and this procurement had been undertaken as a separate exercise.

The report summarised the outcome of the procurement process for the framework which consisted of a single lot, as detailed in table 1 of the report.
The report advised that the forecast annual spend for participating councils and associate members with contingency was £1.75 million per annum, equating to an estimated spend of £7 million over the maximum four-year term of the framework. Appendix 1 to the report detailed the participation, spend and savings summary of those councils participating in the framework.

Tender responses had been received from 10 suppliers and Appendix 2 to the report provided a summary of the offers received. 

Based on the criteria and scoring methodology set out in the tender document, a full evaluation of the offers had been carried out 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 set out in the report, it was recommended that a multi-supplier framework arrangement be awarded to 10 suppliers across lot 1, as outlined in Appendix 3 to the report. 

Appendix 4 to the report detailed the approach taken by suppliers in relation to fair work practices and their position on the payment of the Real Living Wage. 

The report intimated that, in accordance with Scotland Excel’s established contract and supplier management programme, the framework had been classified as class D in terms of risk and spend, as detailed in Appendix 5 to the report. 

DECIDED: That the award of the multi-supplier framework for the supply and delivery of musical instruments, as detailed in Appendix 3 to the report, be approved.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive of Scotland Excel relative to the award of a fourth-generation framework for the supply and delivery of recycle and refuse containers which would operate from 9 December 2021 until 8 December 2024 with an option to extend for a one-year period until 8 December 2025. It was noted that, subject to approval and completion of a standstill period, it was intended that the framework would commence on or around 4 January 2022.

The framework would provide Councils and other participating bodies with a mechanism to procure various types of recycle and refuse containers and would be available to all 32 councils, associate members and eligible public sector partners. The framework would form part of the Scotland Excel Environment Category portfolio which assisted councils in delivering their statutory obligation to provide a waste management public service and to meet targets associated with the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012, Scotland’s Zero Waste Plan and the Scottish Government and CoSLA Household Waste Recycling Charter and Associated Code of Practice.

The report summarised the outcome of the procurement process for the framework which had been divided into eight lots, as detailed in table 1 of the report.
 
The report advised that the forecast annual spend for participating councils and associate members with contingency for any unprojected spend was £12.5 million per annum, equating to an estimated spend of £50 million over the full four-year term of the framework. Appendix 1 to the report detailed the participation, spend and savings summary of those councils participating in the framework.

Tender responses had been received from 25 suppliers and Appendix 2 to the report provided a summary of the offers received. 

Based on the criteria and scoring methodology set out in the tender document, a full evaluation of the offers had been carried out 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 set out in the report, it was recommended that a multi-supplier framework arrangement be awarded to 23 suppliers across the eight lots, as outlined in Appendix 3 to the report. 

Appendix 4 to the report detailed the approach taken by suppliers in relation to fair work practices and their position on the payment of the Real Living Wage. 

The report intimated that, in accordance with Scotland Excel’s established contract and supplier management programme, the framework had been classified as class D in terms of risk and spend, as detailed in Appendix 5 to the report. 

DECIDED: That the award of the multi-supplier framework for the supply and delivery of recycle and refuse containers, as detailed in Appendix 3 to the report, be approved.

 

 

 

 

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive of Scotland Excel advising that VisitScotland 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 VisitScotland to become an associate member of Scotland Excel, with no annual membership fee, be approved subject to completion and signing of the agreement documentation.

DECIDED: That it be noted that the next meeting of the Executive Sub-committee will be held at 9.30 am on 28 January 2022.