Issue - meetings

[To be introduced by the Leader of the Council. Report of the Deputy Chief Executive.]This report details the outcome of an open tender process for the award of a contract to be the Council’s Strategic Partner for the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS).

Councillor Morton exited the meeting at this item.

The Leader introduced the report which set out the outcome of an open tender process for the award of a contract to be the Council’s Strategic Partner for the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS).

This tender was a reflection both of the Borough’s commitment to enabling and working alongside a vibrant, inclusive and self sufficient VCS and of its changing relationship with the sector in Haringey.

The Council had not commissioned a strategic partner before and the partnership between the Council and the successful bidder would have a strong role to play in delivering the Council’s strategic priorities as set out in the Corporate Plan 2015-18 - Building a Stronger Haringey Together.   It was also key to delivering the VCS commissioning framework, agreed by Cabinet in July 2015.

RESOLVED

1.    That Cabinet, in accordance with CSO 9.06.1(d). approves the award of a contract for Strategic Partner services to the preferred bidder - The Bridge Renewal Trust and Moracle Foundation

2.    That the contract is awarded for a period of three years for a value of £450,000 with the option to extend for a further one year for an additional value of £150,000.

Reasons for decision

This decision was important in terms of ensuring development and continuity of the VCS in Haringey.

The recommendations as outlined above in 3.1 and 3.2 are based on the provider whoscored the highest on a most economically advantageous (MEAT) basis and therefore would offer the best value to the Council in terms of quality and price.

Alternative options considered

The option of extending the existing contract was not considered as there is a need for a new contract to reflect a changing relationship with the sector and not available as the contract has previously been extended.

Four further suppliers were considered as part of the procurement process.  The scores for these bidders are presented later in this report (Section 6.6).

The option to ‘do nothing’ was explored and evaluated as not viable.  This option would not have provided a suitable or sustainable platform which will continue to deliver the support needed by the VCS for the foreseeable future.

In addition to the above, failure to provide the interventions would have an adverse impact on delivery of the Corporate Plan and efficiency savings in the longer term.