Decision - Building Maintenance Surveying Consultancy (1st September 2005 - 31st August 2012)

1.       That the Director of Finance & Resources be granted delegated authority to extend the council’s existing building maintenance consultancy contract for education and social care properties for a further period of up to two years.

1.       The current contract holder, NPS South East Ltd, provides value for money in providing building maintenance consultancy services, a fact demonstrated by the results of the tendering process in 2005. At that time a detailed weighted scoring matrix was used to evaluate the bids; NPS South East Ltd had an overall score of 76% compared with the other tenderers at 64%, 56% and 43%. In addition, the basic percentage fees charged for the various types of work under the contract remain competitive with fees currently being charged by other companies on similar works.

2.       The original report to the P&RU Sub-Committee dated 24 May 2005 omitted to include a provision for delegating to the Authorised Officer (namely the Director of Finance & Resources) authority to extend the contract on behalf of the council.    This report seeks to rectify that omission and enable the Director of Finance & Resources to extend this contract up to the maximum two year extension allowed under the contract subject to continuing performance. Having implemented the Policy & Resources Urgency Sub-Committee contract decision in 2005 and having worked closely with the contract holders, NPS South East Ltd, since then,           the Assistant Director of Property & Design is best qualified to make a decision about whether to extend the contract.

3.       It is therefore recommended that the Central Services Cabinet Member grants delegated authority to the Director of Finance & Resources to make that decision.

1.       An exercise has been undertaken to compare the costs of the existing contract with an in-house option. Based on current staffing and resource levels, the in-house cost was calculated at £30,000 a year more expensive against the current annual £300,000 cost. In addition, at the current time an external contract is seen as having advantages in terms of the flexibility of service provision.

2.       The other option would be to re-tender the contract but even in the current economic climate it is felt likely that, based on current consultancy fee rates and the fact that the original NPS bid was considerably less than their competitors, any new tendered rates would exceed current contract levels making an extension the most economically advantageous solution.