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Waverley Borough Council Committee System - Committee Document

Meeting of the Executive held on 06/02/2007
APPENDIX H - LEISURE PROCUREMENT STATEGY IMPLEMENTATION


Summary & Purpose
In December the Council approved the appointment of specialist external advisors to assist in the negotiation of the contract for the future management and improvement of Waverley’s leisure centres in accordance with the Council’s approved Strategy. Members also requested officers to work up the management arrangements for overseeing the whole project and to report back with any further approval request. This report covers this issue.
APPENDIX H
WAVERLEY BOROUGH COUNCIL

EXECUTIVE – 6TH FEBRUARY 2007

Title:

LEISURE PROCUREMENT STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION
[Wards Affected: All]

Summary and purpose:

In December the Council approved the appointment of specialist external advisors to assist in the negotiation of the contract for the future management and improvement of Waverley’s leisure centres in accordance with the Council’s approved Strategy. Members also requested officers to work up the management arrangements for overseeing the whole project and to report back with any further approval request. This report covers this issue.

Environmental Implications

The Leisure Strategy will deliver improvements to the existing leisure facilities, including updating the plant and machinery, which will have a positive impact on the environment.

Social/Community Implications

Improvements to the sport and leisure facilities will improve the quality of experience that visitors to the centre will have.

E-Government implications:

There are no direct e-government implications arising from this report.

Resource and legal implications:

The Leisure Strategy involves the procurement of a significant management contract. The turnover of the five leisure centres is around £4million per year. The contract would be for 15 years and would include delivering major capital investment.

The letting of a contract of this scale and complexity requires expertise to be brought in and in December, Members approved a supplementary estimate of £51,000 in 2006-07 for specialist leisure management procurement and legal support. The report in December also identified the need for further project management support. Proposals have now been worked up and a sum of £30,000 has been included in the report on the draft Revenue Budget for 2007-08 for consideration by Members. The Budget is the subject of a separate report on this agenda.

Introduction and Background

1. In December, the Council agreed the Strategy for the future management and improvement of Waverley’s leisure centres. The Council agreed to solo negotiate with the current operator, DC Leisure, and to include in those negotiations proposals for major capital investment in Waverley’s leisure facilities. The timetable for the procurement of this complex contract needed to start immediately to ensure that sufficient time is allowed for the checking and comparison of all proposals. The timetable also needs to allow for sufficient time to seek the Council’s approval at key stages of the procurement process. The Council agreed to the immediate appointment of Capita Symonds as Waverley’s lead procurement advisor for the project.

2. In December, Members also requested officers to assess the additional project management support necessary for overseeing the whole project and to report back with any further approval request. Officers have discussed the project management requirements with the advisors and with other Surrey authorities that have recently completed major leisure procurement project. Management Team considered a range of options for managing this project and concluded that, given the potential risks associated with the proposals, specialist external support was needed to provide the necessary level of additional capacity and expertise.

Project Management Support

3. Capita Symonds, Waverley’s advisors in the development of the draft Strategy and the Council’s approved Lead procurement advisor for the Strategy, have produced an indicative proposal for the work that is required to manage the project within the necessary timescale. Officers considered this proposal against other potential options for undertaking this work. Management Team consider that there would be a major advantage to extend the contract with Capita to lead the management of this project. Capita Symonds has already acquired a significant amount of knowledge about the Council’s facilities, and economies can be achieved in having the same advisor and project manager. Capita also have an established track record in providing expertise to support this type of project with local authorities and the proposed Capita team would bring particular strengths to Waverley’s negotiations.

4. Waverley’s Contract Procedure Rules would normally require 3 quotations to be sought for a contract of this value. It is proposed, therefore, that Contract Procedure Rules (CPRs) are waived to allow the contract for the external management of the project to be awarded to Capita Symonds.

5. It is intended that the contracts for the lead procurement advice and for the management support are combined and awarded to Capita in two stages. The first stage would run from January to March 2007 and the second from April to July 2007 with a final report to the July Council. The report on the Draft Revenue Budget for 2007-08, elsewhere on this agenda, includes an amount of £30,000 for procuring this support. However, officers may not need to draw down all of the proposed support and an element may be capitalised in so far as it relates to the delivery of the capital improvements to the leisure facilities.

6. In considering this matter, Management Team discussed the overall issue of project management and the need to strengthen this resource in the future to help Waverley deliver projects across the whole range of services. Officers are aware that some other local authorities have dedicated in-house project managers, sometimes linked with procurement resource. It was agreed that this issue should be considered as part of the detailed restructuring review.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Executive: 1. supports one-off expenditure of up to £30,000 in the 2007/08 Budget to extend the contract to provide support to implement the Leisure Procurement Strategy, to include external project management support; and

2. approves the waiver of Contract Procedure Rules to enable the appointment of Capita Symonds to provide the lead project management support for the implementation of the Leisure Procurement Strategy.

Background Papers (DoEL)

Leisure Procurement Strategy

CONTACT OFFICER:

Name: Julie Maskery Telephone: 01483 523432
Name: Graeme Clark Telephone: 01483 523236
E-mail: grclark@waverley.gov.uk


Comms/exec/2006-07/279