Purpose

Proposed
decision
 
That the Cabinet
Member for Highways and Transport agree to:
 
Extend the current DPS framework for the Home
to School Transport (taxi) SS 15124 from its current expiry of
31st October 2026  to
23rd February 2029, with a view to procure a new
commercial strategy under the new Procurement Act 2023.
 

·    
Reason for the decision

 
The current DPS framework expires
on the 31st of December 2026 and under the new
Procurement Act 2023, there is no like for like
replacement.  To provide suitable time
for alternative procurement frameworks to be fully explored and a
new commercial strategy to be developed, it is proposed to extend
the current DPS to 23rd February 2029.  Such as extension is allowed under the Procurement
Act 2015.
 

·    
Background
 
Kent
County Council (KCC) has a statutory duty to provide home to school
transport for eligible children of compulsory school age under the
Education Act 1996.  In addition, under
Adult Social Care, it supports clients with transport to a range of
support functions.
 
The
Home to School Transport (taxi) DPS, was put in place to enable the
service to procure contracted services, for vehicles with 8 seats
or less.  Although named taxi, the
framework is open to operators with hackney carriage (taxi),
private hire, school only private hire or bus operators focused on
specialist services.
 
The
framework is used to procure transport for children and adults,
covering SEN school transport, SEN FE transport, Adult Social Care
and specialist educational support. 
These are bespoke transport arrangements, which could be a single
trip, a range of trips or a fixed period, up to a number of
years. 
 
Due to
the nature of the transport required, tenders can be on a planned
cycle ie transport into one educational
establishment every three years, to a need that has to be covered
in 24 hours.  Tenders can be released to
the market in lots or as single needs. 
The volume of tenders is significant and there as are service
agreements in place with both CYPE and Adult Social Care, in
respect of transport response times. 
 
The DPS
allows the Public Transport Team to run competitive and
PCR2015-compliant tenders with pre-qualified operators.
 
The
framework was determined as the most effective route to market in
2016.  This determination was made,
based on how transport contracts were tendered, the timescales
sometimes involved and the volume of tenders
undertaken.  In addition feedback was
sought from other local authority transport teams, in particular
their preferred procurement routes and benefits of.  Approval of the route to market involved full
engagement with a range of stakeholders across the
authority
 
When
the DPS was set up in 2016, the Public Contract Regulations 2015
applied. However, as of 24th February 2025, any new procurement or
purchasing mechanism is subject to the Procurement Act 2023, which
provides new procurement processes but does not have a directly
comparable replacement for Dynamic Purchasing Systems. Under the
Procurement Act 2023 (PA23), there is no longer the option to
establish new Dynamic Purchasing Systems. However, two new
arrangements were introduced: Open Frameworks and Dynamic Markets.
In addition, ‘Guidance: transitional and saving
arrangements’ was published to advise on managing the
changeover from the previous legislation, including the lifespan of
extant DPSs. With the current DPS set to expire at the end of next
year, several options for fulfilling KCC’s statutory
obligations have been identified and evaluated.
 
The
service still believe that a DPS provides a procurement framework,
that meets its needs in terms of being procurement compliant,
flexible, allows planned tendering but also short term tendering,
even for urgent needs. Therefore to not have a comparable
replacement for the DPS under the new Procurement Act 2023, poses a
risk to how the service tenders transport and ultimately
users.
 
This is
not an issue unique to Kent, a number of local transport
authorities (those tender transport contracts) have conveyed to
national government the risk of not having a DPS replacement and
the limits that the procurement options available bring to
transport tendering.  It is hope that
this may see changes brought forward by national
government.
 
Extending the term of
the current DPS would minimise service disruption by retaining
processes which KCC staff and Suppliers are already familiar with.
Additionally, it offers relative stability in the medium-term,
while the potential impacts of Local Government Reform crystallise.
Whilst this still does not directly resolve the matter of the route
to market beyond 23rd February 2029, it does offer an interim
solution which can be delivered by Place CPD and managed by the
Public Transport team, while work progresses to develop a
longer-term commercial strategy.
 
Options (other options considered but discarded)
 

Procuring
under PCR15
Dynamic
Markets
Open
Frameworks

 
How the proposed decision supports the

Framing Kent's Future
- Our Council Strategy 2022-2026
 
Levelling Up Kent -
Inclusive transport across all divisions
 
New Models of Care -
Bespoke, responsive transport for SEN and ASC
 
Sustainability –
ensuring that the minimum number of vehicles are used in the
transport of children, so reducing emissions.
 
Congestion –
efficient planning to ensure that vehicle numbers limited, so
removing congestion at and around major schools.
 
Communities –
supporting them to grow, by ensuring access to specialist
educational/adult social care resource.
 
 
How the
proposed decision supports Securing Kent’s Future 2022
-2026:
Securing Kents Future
- Budget Recovery Strategy.pdf
 
Service Continuity -
Maintains stable procurement during legislative change (procurement
act 2023)
 
Financial Resilience -
 Avoids unnecessary cost and disruption associated with
premature or unplanned procurement changes.
 
Strategic Planning -
Allows time to develop future-proof commercial strategy
 
Best value
consideration - Supports efficient and compliant procurement
practices that deliver value for money.
 
 
 

Decision

As Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport I
agree to:
 
•      
EXTEND the current DPS framework for the Home to School Transport
(taxi) SS 15124 from its current expiry of 31st October 2026 to
23rd February 2029.
 

•      
ENABLE the development of an appropriate commercial
strategy, taking account of the procurement options available under
Procurement Act 2023.

 

•      
DELEGATE authority to the Director of Growth,
Environment and Transport to approve the DPS extension report, as
prepared by Commissioning and Procurement.

 
•      
DELEGATE authority to the Corporate Director of
Growth, Environment and Transport to take other necessary actions,
including but not limited to entering into contracts or other legal
agreements, as required to implement the decision