Issue - meetings

Cabinet were asked to consider a report on the future highways service contract.

RESOLVED that

1)      the proposed operating and procurement model and associated timescales in terms of the future delivery of this key service, ranked as ‘Platinum Plus’, be agreed;

2)      the increase in the capacity of the existing client team to meet the needs of procuring the new contract and thereafter manage and deliver the service as proposed be noted; and

3)      the new Governance arrangements and Programme which has been put in place to administer and deliver this procurement project be noted.

N Naylor, Cabinet Member for Transport Services, introduced the report and informed Members that the current highways services contract had been awarded to Ringway Jacobs in 2009.  It was an 8-year contract with a possible extension of 7 years, 6 of which had already been granted.  A decision has been taken not to grant the final 1-year extension and the current contract would expire on 31 March 2023.  The Cabinet report and supporting appendices looked at what actions needed to be undertaken to ensure the future delivery of this key service, as the current model of delivery was not viewed as being the most appropriate to achieve the outcomes of the service and to contribute towards some of the key strategic objectives of the council.  There were a number of key current limitations that were detailed in the report.

Following the financial pressures and difficulties that had been experienced by some of the major service providers in the sector, including the collapse of Carillion, having a single provider for all areas of the service was also seen as a concern that needed addressing.  Approximately 30 months was required to undertake a comprehensive procurement exercise for a contract of this nature, particularly if it was proposed to alter the model considerably from the current arrangement.  To enable the associated procurement exercise to be carried out, a decision was required on what operating model would best serve the council going forward.

A comprehensive analysis of the various models that were available in the market had been carried out and assessed to their appropriateness to deliver the key objectives of the Council and achieve value for money.  The ranking order of these were contained within Appendix 1.  Governance arrangements had been put in place for the procurement exercise with representation as shown in Appendix 2.  The proposed model was a hybrid of the models that had been assessed and comprised:

-                     a larger in-house client team to better manage and direct the service as per Appendix 3.

-                     a term maintenance contractor who will be responsible for carrying out all routine maintenance on the network, comprising winter maintenance, small scale and localised pothole repairs, gulley cleaning and drainage maintenance, cyclical grass cutting, maintenance of traffic signals, signs and lines, bridges, structures, footpaths, and street lighting as well as potentially some of the capital maintenance projects.

-                     a term consultant, who will support the client but also have responsibility for transport planning, feasibility and business case development, design and project management of larger works and major projects.

-                     2 number frameworks to provide competition and resilience:

o   the first framework with 3 lots:

§  1 for conventional surfacing and reconstruction,

§  1 for surfacing treatments e.g. surface dressing, slurry sealing, high friction surfacing etc.

§  1 for other minor work activities, e.g. machine lay plane and patch, footway reconstruction, drainage schemes, etc.

o   and the second framework for larger capital improvements and infrastructure works.

-                     and ultimately all members of the above to form  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9