Councillor Altany Craik (Fife Council); Councillor John Shaw (Renfrewshire Council); Councillor Amanda Hawick (Shetland Islands Council) and Councillor Collette Stevenson (South Lanarkshire Council).

Councillor Gillian Owen (Aberdeenshire Council) (substitute for Provost Bill Howatson (Aberdeenshire Council); Provost Norman Macdonald (Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar) and Councillor Stephen Thompson (Dumfries and Galloway Council).

Councillor Shaw, Convener, presided.

J Welsh, Director, H Carr, Head of Strategic Procurement, S Brannagan, Head of Customer and Business Services,  L Richard, Strategic Procurement Manager and I Murray, Senior Client Services Specialist (all Scotland Excel); and M Conaghan, Legal and Democratic Services Manager and K O’Neill, Assistant Democratic Services Officer (both Renfrewshire Council).

There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of the Executive Sub-committee held on 6 December 2019.

DECIDED: That the Minute be approved.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Scotland Excel relative to the award of a new framework for the supply and distribution of fresh fruit and vegetables which would operate from 1 April 2020 until 31 March 2022, with the option to extend for up to an additional two 12 month periods until 30 March 2024.

The framework provided councils and other participating bodies with a mechanism to procure a range of fresh/organic fruit and vegetables and supported councils with the introduction of the revised nutrition act that required a minimum of two portions of vegetables and a portion of fruit to be offered as part of a school lunch, in both primary and secondary schools. 

The framework had been divided into two lots as detailed in figure 1 of the report and had been advertised at a value of £6 million over the four-year period. 

Tender responses had been received from six suppliers and Appendix 1 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 compliant offers had been carried out and Appendix 2 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 six suppliers across two lots as outlined in Appendix 2. 

Appendix 3 to the report detailed the Real Living Wage status of bidders. 

DECIDED: That the award of the framework agreement for the supply and distribution of fresh fruit and vegetables, as detailed in Appendix 2 to the report, be approved.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Scotland Excel which provided an update
on Scotland Excel associate membership.

The report intimated that associate members had always been part of Scotland Excel’s membership base and generally joined Scotland Excel to take advantage of a particular contract.  There was little or no engagement between associate members and Scotland Excel after the initial joining period which resulted in a relatively static membership level with an equivalent number of members joining and leaving over the years.

Scotland Excel associate membership was classified into five main groups, housing associations, Council arm’s length organisations (ALEOs), transport bodies, organisations utilising reciprocal arrangements (Scottish Government and education) and other bodies and table 1 of the report detailed the breakdown of associate members per group.

The growth of associate membership was detailed in figure 1 of the report; the current income breakdown of associate members as at January 2020 was detailed in figure 2 of the report; the increase in the number of housing associations was detailed in figure 3 of the report; and the current fee split of associate members was detailed in figure 4 of the report.

Scotland Excel were currently updating its Associate Strategy which would be presented to committee in February 2020; were also introducing a lite touch account management process for associates to encourage take up of contracts and promotion of additional services; and would continue to review spend levels of associates to ensure that the fee reflected the usage from the associate. 

DECIDED: That the progress made with regard to the ongoing work with current associate members and to encourage suitable organisations to apply for membership be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Scotland Excel advising that West College Scotland 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 and advised that no annual fee was payable as all education establishments were covered under the reciprocal no fee agreement.

DECIDED: That the application by West College Scotland to become an associate member of Scotland Excel, at no annual fee, be approved subject to completion and signing of the agreement documentation.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Scotland Excel advising that National Museums Scotland 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 the National Museums Scotland to become an associate member of Scotland Excel, at no annual fee, be approved subject to completion and signing of the agreement documentation.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Scotland Excel advising that Ardenglen Housing Association Limited 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 Ardenglen Housing Association Limited to become an associate member of Scotland Excel, at an annual membership fee of £1,437, be approved subject to completion and signing of the agreement documentation.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Scotland Excel advising that Dunbritton Housing Association Limited 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 Dunbritton Housing Association Limited to become an associate member of Scotland Excel, at an annual membership fee of £1,329, be approved subject to completion and signing of the agreement documentation.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Scotland Excel relative to single use of plastic items within Scotland Excel frameworks.  

The Single Use Plastics Update Report January 2020 was appended to the report and provided an update on progress made to date and outlined development activity being undertaken to continue to drive the sourcing of viable alternative products.

DECIDED: That the report and progress made to date be noted.

Provost Bill Howatson (Aberdeenshire Council); Councillor Graham Hutchison (City of Edinburgh Council); Bailie Norman MacLeod (Glasgow City Council); Councillor Alister MacKinnon (Highland Council); and Councillor Paul Di Mascio (North Lanarkshire Council).

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

The Head of Strategic Procurement gave a verbal update outlining changes required to the Social Work Case Management Framework presented to the meeting of this Executive Sub-committee held on 22 November 2019.  

 

Members were advised that the scale of the level of detail in the framework required to be amended and that a presentation on this award be delivered at a future meeting of the Executive Sub-committee.

DECIDED:

(a) That the information provided by the Head of Strategic Procurement on the Social Work Care Case Management Framework Award recommendation be noted; and

(b) That a presentation on this award be delivered at a future meeting of the Executive Sub-committee.

DECIDED: That it be noted that the next meeting of the Executive Sub-committee would be held at 10.45 am on 28 February 2020 in Scotland Excel Meeting Room 1, Renfrewshire House, Cotton Street, Paisley.