Purpose

The Council’s current contract for the
provision of a managed service for temporary staff and statements
of work (i.e. consultants) is due to expire on the 1st November
2025. Following consultation with key internal stakeholders, a
review of suitable procurement frameworks and engagement with the
market the Council has completed a further competition for the
renewal of this contract via a compliant framework (ESPO
MSTAR4).

Decision

(1) 
To support the
re-procurement of this contract.
 
(2) 
To delegate authority
to the Director of Financial Services, Assurance & Pensions and
Director of People and Policy, in consultation with the Cabinet
Member for Resources, to award the contract for a 3-year term
starting on 2 November 2025, with optional extensions of up to 24
months.

Reasons for the decision

The Council is running a further competition from the
following framework: ESPO 653F_23 (MSTAR4).
 
The objectives of the procurement exercise were:
 
• 
Ensure Workforce
Flexibility and Scalability
• 
Enhance Skill
Diversity and Expertise
• 
Optimise Cost Efficiency and Resource Allocation
 
Within the existing arrangement
there is a lack of alignment between temporary agency staff
provision and specialist consultancy. Bidders were asked to present
solutions that would improve the alignment of these two
elements.
 
Bids were received in June 2025 and were evaluated by a
panel of officers from across the Council.

Alternative options considered

An open tender process was also considered but this was
discounted as a framework call-off offered better speed and
efficiency as the framework has already been established with the
terms agreed and suppliers pre-qualified.
 
Other frameworks were considered but the selected framework
was best able to meet our needs in terms of scope and
suppliers.