Issue - meetings

(Report of the Director of Corporate Resources. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Finance and Carbon Reduction). The report seeks approval to award a contract for the provision of cash collection and delivery services.

Cabinet considered a report, introduced by the Cabinet Member for Finance and Carbon Reduction, which sought approval to award a contract for the provision of cash collections and delivery services.

Exempt information pertaining to the report was considered under agenda item 27.

RESOLVED:

1. That approval be given to entering into an Access Agreement with the Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO) in order for the Council to utilise the Framework Agreement for cash collection services.

2. That approval be given to the award of the contract for cash collection and delivery services to BDI Securities UK Limited under the Framework Agreement for a period of two years from 23^rd May 2013 with an option to extend for up to two years in annual increments.

Alternative options considered

The London Borough of Enfield approached the Council offering a shared service arrangement for the provision of a cash collection service, whereby Enfield staff would collect and deliver the cash to a central location and then a third party would deliver it to the bank. Officers fully investigated this option and found there were a number of significant issues with taking up this option. 

Firstly, Enfield was unable to take on the contract until October 2013 at the earliest, some six months after the current six month contract extension ends. Secondly, there was a significant risk around staffing as Enfield were only willing to take on the contract if the existing contractor’s staff undertaking the current contract were transferred over under TUPE regulations. The current contractor has confirmed in writing that no members of staff are willing to transfer. The price quoted by Enfield was also £49k higher than the price under the framework agreement recommended in this report.

Finally, legal advice was received that if the Council were to enter into this arrangement, it would not be compliant with procurement regulations, due to the way Enfield’s contract with their third party had been arranged. As a result of the all these issues, this option was judged not to be in Haringey’s interests to pursue any further with Enfield.

Reasons for Decision

The contract for cash collection and delivery services expires on 22^nd May 2013 and as this is a service the Council requires, it is necessary to make a decision to award a new contract.  Due to the value of the contract, this is required to be a Cabinet decision. The recommendation to award this contract to BDI Securities UK Limited under the Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation framework has been made following a benchmarking exercise to compare the framework with the current contract.