Purpose

Approval of a Direct Award procurement/re-procurement of the adam Dynamic Purchasing System to facilitate the tender process for home to school transport services

Decision

RESOLVED

KEY DECISION

That the Executive:

i)               Authorised a Direct Award of a contract with the Access Group under the YPO Framework for the Dynamic Purchasing System known as “adam”, to facilitate ongoing procurement of home to school transport and related services.

ii)              Delegated authority to the Executive Member for Highways, Travel and Assets in consultation with Executive Director of Place and Economy to take any further decisions and/or actions required to conclude the procurement process, appoint the preferred supplier and enter into respective contracts for the delivery of Home to School transport and related services.

Reasons for Recommendations:

a. This proposal will facilitate the disaggregation of the financial processes from WNC, giving the Council better monitoring of forecasting and spend and is a key part of the Transformation of the service to meet the needs and requirements of the Council.

b. Taking its own contract under a Direct Award from the YPO Framework would allow the Council to work with the DPS provider to further optimize the system to meet the specific needs of North Northamptonshire as a standalone Council, rather than compromise to meet needs of the two councils together.

c. Taking this decision at this time allows sufficient time to prepare and develop the market and ensures that there is an ongoing process and platform for procurement after the expiry of the current term of the DPS contract. This gives a degree of certainty to both the Council and the service providers contracting with it and helps to ensure that the Council can continue to meet its statutory obligations after April 2024.

d. Alternative procurement provisions would need extensive development and potentially data migration to similarly meet the Council’s needs. There is no guarantee that the current service providers would be prepared to sign up to a different platform, or that the potential new platform can replicate the levels of operational service provided within the current DPS platform.

e. Transitioning to a new system without sufficient lead in time to support providers is likely to lead to procurement and service issues. Providers will need to be supported in changing their processes to support the new ways of working which could lead to greater engagement from officers to ensure effective service delivery and contract management. The launch of a new system without adequate support may deter providers from bidding for routes in the future.

f. The increased cost of the proposal is minimal against the overall budget for Home to School Transport and can be absorbed within it. There is potential for savings from utilising more local service providers to off-set the additional costs.

g. Re-development of the current service to include more local service providers and resolve current finance issues would incur additional costs which need to be considered against the time remaining in the current contract.

Alternative Options Considered:

a) Do nothing: The current contractual arrangement under the DPS will expire at the end of March 2024, subject to any extensions undertaken by WNC. If the contract is allowed to expire without any action being taken, the Council will have no process for procuring Home to School and social care transport. This will leave the Council unable to meet its statutory responsibilities in this area.

b) Undertake a full procurement exercise to identify an alternative system that may meet the Council's needs. Soft market testing has not identified a system that would be able to immediately meet the Council’s needs without further development of both the system and Council’s processes and internal systems within the timescales required.