Provost Bill Howatson (Aberdeenshire Council); Councillor Angus Macmillan Douglas (Angus Council); Councillor Graham Hutchison (City of Edinburgh Council); Provost Norman A Macdonald (Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar); Councillor Stephen Thompson (Dumfries and Galloway Council); Councillor Altany Craik (Fife Council); Councillor Alister Mackinnon (Highland Council); Councillor Joe Cullinane (North Ayrshire Council);  Councillor John Shaw (Renfrewshire Council); and Councillor Collette Stevenson (South Lanarkshire Council).

Councillor Shaw, Convener, presided.

J Welsh, Chief Executive, H Carr, Head of Strategic Procurement, S Brannagan, Head of Customer and Business Services, L Campbell, Corporate Services Manager, K Murphy, Senior Procurement Specialist, S Christie, Commercial Manager and Z Shankly, Customer Account Manager (all Scotland Excel); and M Conaghan, Legal and Democratic Services Manager and E Currie, Senior Committee Services Officer (both Renfrewshire Council).

Councillor Douglas declared an interest in the preceding item of business as he was a Director of Tayside Contracts.

Councillor Ruairie Kelly (Glasgow City Council); Councillor Paul Di Mascio (North Lanarkshire Council) (due to technical issues); and Councillor Amanda Hawick (Shetland Islands 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 27 November 2020.

DECIDED: That the Minute be approved.

There was submitted an amended report the Chief Executive of Scotland Excel relative to the award of a renewal framework for bitumen and associated products which would operate from 1 March 2021 until 29 February 2024, with an option to extend for a further 12-month period.

The renewal was a fourth-generation framework and would provide councils and other participating bodies with a mechanism to procure a wide variety of bitumen related products ranging from bulk bitumen to reinstatement products, surface dressings, cementitious products and sundry bitumen related products.

The report summarised the outcome of the procurement process for this national framework agreement. 

The framework had been divided into five lots as detailed in table 1 of the report and had been advertised at £56 million for the four-year term. Appendix 1 to the report detailed the participation, spend and savings summary of those 30 councils participating in the framework together with Tayside Contracts. It was noted that North Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire Councils had their own arrangements in place and had advised that they did not currently intend to participate in this renewal framework. The framework had been advertised to allow use by all councils. It was currently intended that Tayside Contracts would be the procurement lead for the purchase of bitumen and associated products for Angus, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross Councils.

Tender responses had been received from nine tenderers 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 compliant 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 be awarded to nine suppliers as outlined in Appendix 3 to the report. 

Appendix 4 to the report detailed the approach taken by bidders in relation to fair work practices and their position on the payment of the Real Living Wage; and Appendix 5 to the report provided a summary of contract and supplier management classifications. 

DECIDED: That the award of the multi-supplier framework for bitumen and associated products, as detailed in Appendix 3 to the report, be approved.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive of Scotland Excel advising that Grampian 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 Grampian Housing Association Limited to become an associate member of Scotland Excel, with an annual membership fee of £4,995, be approved subject to completion and signing of the agreement documentation.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive of Scotland Excel relative to employee absence statistics for Scotland Excel. 

The report advised of the absence levels for the period ending 30 September 2020 and provided a breakdown of the current month, last six months and 12 months absence figures, together with an Illustration of 12 months in days and the last 12 months in percentages. The graph in the report detailed the sickness absence rates within Scotland Excel over the past five years. 

The rate of absence across the organisation had mostly been maintained at or below the 4% target with the exception of August 2020 where it rose to 5%. The rolling six months and12 months average absence rates were now at or below 3.4%.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

DECIDED: That it be noted that the next meeting of the Executive Sub-committee would be held at 9.30 am on 29 January 2021.