Agenda item

The report sought approval from the Cabinet Member for Finance and Local Investment to award a contract for the provision of a Procurement and Contract Management (also known as 'e-procurement') solution in accordance with Contract Standing Order (CSO) 9.01.2 b) (Restricted Tender process) and CSO 9.07.1(e) (Award of contracts above £500,000) and CSO16.02 (the Leader may allocate decisions to the Cabinet Member having the relevant portfolio responsibility).

The Council used several platforms, Adam Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS), Haringey Procurement and Contract System (HPCS), OpenText, SAP Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) and SAP Vendor Invoice Management (VIM), to manage its e-procurement activities, handling over £550 million of transactions and about 90,000 payments. Of these, the contracts for HPCS platform (including contract management) and Adam DPS would expire in 2024 and both systems would need replacing.

The contract end dates for these systems vary across 2023-24 and cannot be extended further. Moreover, there are outstanding audit recommendations that the current solutions cannot provide for.

The contract was for an initial period of 5 years with an option to extend for a further 2 years. The estimated contract value inclusive of the extension period was stated in paragraph 3.1 of this report and the anticipated start date would be 01/10/2023 and the end date (if extending) would be 30/09/2030.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Local Investment RESOLVED

That the Cabinet Member for Finance and Local Investment approves, in accordance with Contract Standing Order (CSO’s) 9.01.2b, 9.07.1e and 16.02, the award of a contract for the supply and support of an e-Procurement solution to Supplier C for an initial 5-year period at an estimated value of £1,974,833 with an option of a two-year extension at a further estimated value of £884,556 for a maximum estimated contract value of £2,859,389.

Reasons for decision:

The current contract for the Haringey Procurement and Contract System (HPCS) platform expires on 11 June 2024 and the Adam DPS platform expires on 28 November 2024, with no further options to extend. Page 2 Page 3 of 6

The new e-procurement platform directly supported activities that would contribute to more effective, more compliant procurement and, as a result, greater value for money for the Council and residents of the borough.

The approach supported the Digital Strategy to adopt best in class existing processes and simplify internal processes and practices to meet industry proven standards rather than a more bespoke ‘adapt’ approach, which was agreed to be more expensive, more time-consuming, and more costly, over the long-term, to sustain and maintain.

The new platform would also deliver the recommendations of the internal audit report which include: - Establishing a consolidated contracts register - Enforcing use of a corporate sourcing solution for all procurements - Ensuring supplier credit checks are completed where required prior to award of contract - Keeping an audit trail of activity related to procurements - Compliance with the requirement to publish all awards over £25K.

The award of contract would deliver: - Compliant procurement and contract management processes across the Council - a single platform for purchasing - Enhanced supplier relationship functions - Comprehensive reporting to allow the Council to see progress against the Council’s strategic goals for its procurement activities and inform commercial decisions - The capacity to meet future changes to legislation impacting procurement.

Alternative options considered:

Do nothing - This was not an option. The Council requires a suitable solution to manage its sourcing, payment, and contract management activities and without procuring a new solution as the existing contracts expire, suitable solutions would not be available to support the efficient and compliant running of the Council.

Renew existing contract(s) - This was not an option as the Council was unable to extend the existing contracts any further. The current solutions do not align with best practice or meet all the recommendations of the audit reports to the Commercial Board.