208 External Auditor's Procurement Review PDF 758 KB
The Committee will consider Grant Thornton’s high level review of the overall adequacy of 'the Council's procurement organisation and its capabilities to support the Council in achievement of value for money from procurement activity.
Minutes:
Grant Thornton had looked at the Council’s overall procurement arrangements and had found that progress had continued to be made. The central procurement unit had lead to a reduction in costs and was having a good influence over third party spending. The unit had also received positive feedback from stakeholders. Recommendations had been made, particularly around improving the quality of documentation for demonstrating value for money. The action plan had been agreed, and most actions were already underway.
In response to a question regarding the level of staff with technical procurement qualifications, it was reported that there was a focus on staff having relevant experience rather than technical qualifications, but that the qualification of staff was an area that the Council was looking at. It was felt that there should be a priority on developing specific skill sets, in order to improve the key issue of quality of negotiation.
The Committee asked about the findings around ICT procurement. It was reported that the issues raised by the external auditors were around the documentation which evidenced decisions made; there were concerns that the documentation did not always fully demonstrate the value for money judgements from an audit point of view, although there were no specific concerns raised regarding the judgements themselves. The Committee expressed concern that IT procurement decisions appeared to have already been made by the time they were presented to Members, and it was recommended that Members should be involved at an earlier stage in future, in order to ensure a more transparent process. The need to improve the quality of the evidence and documentation for decisions had been recognised, and would also improve the transparency and robustness of such processes. It was noted that procurement around this area was likely to be very different in future, as ICT arrangements and the nature of the service offered continued to change rapidly.
Progress against the action plan would be reported back to the Committee.
RESOLVED
That the content of the report be noted.