Agenda item

(Report of the Director of Place and Sustainability. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for the Environment). The report seeks approval to enter into a contract for highways and street lighting works over the eight year term.

 

Exempt information pertaining to the report will be considered under Item 22.

 

 

Cabinet considered a report, introduced by the Cabinet Member for the Environment, which sought approval to enter into a contract with Ringway Jacobs, the LoHAC contractor for the North East sector, which would allow call offs to be made for highways and street lighting works over the eight year term.

 

In response to a question from Cllr Allison regarding that cast-iron street lighting be conserved rather than replaced, the Cabinet Member for Environment advised that this would be looked into.

 

Exempt information was considered under agenda item 22.

 

RESOLVED

 

i)             That a contract is entered into with Ringway Jacobs, the LoHAC contractor for the North East sector which allows call offs to be made for highways and street lighting works over the 8 year term of the LoHAC framework.

 

ii)            That a call off contract under the LoHAC framework for the Green Lanes Corridor Scheme is entered into.

 

iii)           That call-off contracts under the LoHAC framework for term maintenance and planned schemes for highways and street lighting are entered into as follows:

 

i)             A one-year call-off to deliver the Sustainable Transport Works Plan and planned works for 2013/14.

ii)            A three year call-off for reactive highways works.

iii)           A three year call-off for street lighting maintenance and gully cleansing.

 

iv)           That the Cabinet Member for the Environment is granted delegated authority to finalise additional call-offs under the LoHAC Framework for the OLF Public Realm improvements in Green Lanes and the TfL funded Major Scheme improvements in Wood Green High Road.

 

Alternative options considered

 

The Sustainable Transport Works Plan for 2013/14 proposes an investment of more than £16m on sustainable transport works.

 

Haringey’s current term maintenance contracts with Volker Highways expire at the end of June 2013, so a decision on how to deliver the 2013/14 plan in the most efficient way needs to be made.

 

In late 2012 TfL announced the successful contractors appointed to the London Highways Alliance Contract (LoHAC). LoHAC created four regions in London where the appointed contractor for that region would provide maintenance services on the TfL Road Network and also be available to London Boroughs within the region to call off works. Haringey therefore has this additional option to consider.

 

Haringey is in the North East LoHAC Region with Enfield, Waltham Forest, Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge. The successful contractor for the North East Region is Ringway Jacobs.

 

Initially the following five different options were considered:

 

1.    Re-procure the service.

2.    Extend the existing contracts with Volker but negotiate discounts on rates and improved performance measures.

3.    Enter into the LoHAC Framework for all works.

4.    Enter into the LoHAC Framework for one year and re-procure the service for the second-year onwards.

5.    Use a combination of Volker by extending and LoHAC.

 

Transport for London (TfL) have also now instructed London Boroughs in receipt of LIP funding from 2013/14 that they must use the LoHAC Framework for schemes costing over £250,000 unless they can demonstrate that their own contractor would provide better value for money. This means that the Council would have to call-off the LoHAC Framework even if it was only for those schemes. In 2013/14 this criteria would cover three planned schemes – Green Lanes Improvements (value £700,000), Warwick Gardens Community Streets and the commencement of the Wood Green major scheme.

 

Taking into account the instruction from TfL which means that some works would have to be let through LoHAC, and the objectives outlined above an assessment refined the options, which were:

 

1.    Extend the existing contracts but seeking reductions in prices as well as improved performance plus calling off under the LoHAC Framework for LIP schemes over £250,000.

2.    Use the LoHAC Framework exclusively.

3.    Use the LoHAC Framework in the medium term but procuring new contracts after one year.

 

These options were assessed against the following objectives:

 

Quality – A First Class Service

All works delivered in Haringey should be of the required quality, measured by:

·        Accuracy – Works completed to specification and right first time.

·        Timeliness of delivery – Works completed to the expected timescale.

·        Health and Safety procedures followed.

·        Consideration of the Public, reducing inconvenience for pedestrians and road users.

·        Sustainability and Environmental Considerations.

 

All Quality aspects should be reflected and monitored against Key Performance Indicators contractually agreed.

 

Value for Money

Any new arrangements for the delivery of Highways services must be able to demonstrate that Value for Money is being achieved.

 

Cost Savings

Pressures on all Council budgets mean that we should be seeking to achieve reductions in spend in all aspects of service delivery.

 

Flexibility

Any new contract arrangements should include flexibility to adapt to changes and a joint partnership working approach where both the client and the contractor work together to continually review quality and cost to ensure best value is being achieved.

 

Each of these options was then assessed on grounds of price (comparing the price of works and reactive maintenance service), cost (the overall cost of the option in terms of procurement or resources needed to implement the option), quality and flexibility. The details of this assessment are set out in the Appendix 3. The outcome of the assessment is to recommend that the LoHAC Framework should be used for all TfL LIP funded schemes for 2013/14 and also term maintenance and planned works from 1 July 2013 when the existing contract ends.

 

The summary of the assessment was:

 

·        Quality – A Quality threshold was part of the TfL procurement process and the contracts include comprehensive performance indicators which will be monitored by a pan-London LoHAC board. Failure to achieve KPI’s will result in reductions to the 8-year framework term. The Performance Indicators against which performance will be measured are included in Appendix 3.

·        Cost – An analysis of cost comparisons showed that the council could make substantial savings. Cost comparisons have indicated that cost savings of a minimum of 10% can be expected.

·        Value for Money – TfL have chosen the framework suppliers through a competitive OJEU procurement. Haringey can take advantage of the LoHAC Framework with minimal procurement costs. This saving in addition to cost savings available through the LoHAC Framework offers the council maximum value for money.

·        Flexibility – Joining the LoHAC Framework does not commit the council to any minimum spend or timescale commitments. The council would be free to use the LoHAC Framework as and when required throughout the 8 year term, therefore providing excellent flexibility.

 

Results of this assessment are included in appendix 3, but in summary were:

 

Option	Score / 100
Join TfL Alliance from 1 July 2013 for all works	80
Combination of Volker and TfL Alliance	64
Go with LoHAC for one year then re-procure	76

 

Reason for decision

 

The Council’s current highways and street contract was let for a 4 year term which expires on 30 June 2013.  A new contractor has to be appointed to ensure continuity of service.