Contract Awards for Cashless Catering Solution and Online School Payments
North Lanarkshire Council · 14 September 2022
Back to Finance and Resources Committee — 14 September 2022 and its agenda
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Finance and Resources Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref:JB/LB Date 14/09/22 Contract Awards for Cashless Catering Solution and Online School Payments From James McKinstry, Head of Asset and Procurement Solutions E-mail mckinstryj@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07939 281102 Executive Summary In accordance with General Contract Standing Orders 21.3.2, Executive Director Approval was provided to expedite the contract award for a ‘Cashless Catering Solution’ (the “Contract”) for the Schools estate. The award was made to CRB Cunninghams. This is a long-term contract that will provide continuity for 5 years. Committee should note that prior to establishing the new Contract, two interim contracts were placed directly with the incumbent Contractor, necessary to ensure a bridge between old and new Contracts, ensuring maintenance, support and continuity of service during a period disrupted significantly by COVID 19. Recommendations Finance and Resources Committee are advised of: (1) Interim Contracts awarded directly to CRB Cunninghams for the provision of ‘Cashless Catering Maintenance’ and ‘Online School Payments’. These interim Contracts were awarded using a Negotiated Tendering Procedure (“NTP”) conducted in conformance with General Contract Standing Orders (“GCSOs”) and the relevant Procurement Regulations; (2) Long-term Contract awarded to CRB Cunninghams for the provision of Cashless Catering Solution. The Contract award followed a mini-competition of the Council’s requirements through a National Collaborative Framework. The resultant award is for 5 years. The fixed requirements of the new solution will cost £777,078 with an option to consider further spend should the opportunity arise to provide add-ons that could advance the solution during the contract period; and (3) A separate procurement is being undertaken to secure a long term solution for Online School Payments. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Improve the health and wellbeing of our communities
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Ambition statement (15) Encourage the health and wellbeing of people through a range of social, cultural, and leisure activities
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1 Background Previous Contracts 1.1 North Lanarkshire Council (“the Council”) has had a cashless catering solution deployed in every school across the estate since March 2017. In addition to this, an ‘Online School Payments’ facility has been in place since May 2018. 1.2 The solutions for these products and services are very bespoke, with a vast range of functionality to support operations and delivery of an effective schools meal service. 1.3 Both Contracts were held by the same Contractor, CRB Cunninghams. 1.4 The previous contract for the provision of a ‘Cashless Catering Solution’ was for the period 1 March 2017 to 28 February 2021 and that was reported to ‘Education Committee’ February 2017. 1.5 The previous contract for ‘Online School Payments’ was for the period 1 May 2018 to 30 April 2021 and that was reported to ‘Infrastructure Committee’ September 2018. 2 Report Interim Contracts 2.1 Prior to expiry of the previous contracts, it was anticipated that the Council would use a National Collaborative Framework to be established by Scotland Excel to source its longer term requirements. However, the framework agreement was delayed and did not become live until 01/09/2021. The delay was due to a number of factors, particularly the disruptions caused by COVID19 with the reprioritisation of Scotland Excel activities. 2.2 With the Council’s contract due to expire before the new framework would be in place, it was essential that the Council could continue to utilise existing systems, so it became necessary to place interim contracts with the incumbent Contractor, CRB Cunninghams. The interim contracts provided a bridge between the previous contracts and being able to use the National Collaborative Framework to tender for longer term requirements. 2.3 The interim Contracts were awarded using a Negotiated Tendering Procedure (“NTP”), which was conducted in conformance with General Contract Standing Orders (“GCSOs”) and the relevant Procurement Regulations. The interim contracts were: • 28/05/2021 – 31/03/2022 for a value of £188,886 • 01/04/2022 – 30/09/2022 for a value of £105,423 Longer-term Contracts 2.4 To start the process of procuring a contract for the longer term requirements, a working group of officers from Facility Support Services (“FSS”) and other Service Areas of the Council was formed. This group were responsible for review of: technical specifications; trading processes; assessessment of market conditions and trends. 2.5 The working group identified that the newly established National Collabortive Framework managed by Scotland Excel (“SE”), did not provide an option to combine
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‘Cashless Catering Solution’ and ‘Online School Payments’ within a single mini- competition, meaning that the requirements would have to be procured separately as individual contracts. 2.6 Lot 2 of the new framework was “Cashless Catering Services and Equipment”; four contractors were appointed to that lot. 2.7 The Council conducted a mini-competition inviting all 4 of the Lot 2 contractors to tender for the Council’s ‘Cashless Catering Solution’ requirements over a 5 year contract period. Only 1 contractor, CRB Cunninghams, responded with a proposal. The feedback provided from one of the Contractors was they couldn’t tender due to constraints on capacity and couldn’t meet the project timescales. 2.8 The proposal received was evaluated as meeting the Councils requirements and therefore recommended for award in May 2022. 2.9 Executive Director approval was sought in accordance with General Contract Standing Orders 21.3.2. to expedite the contract award process. 2.10 Due to advancements and upgrades over the previous solution, the Contract will be phased in with a small number of schools prior to full roll-out; this will ensure successful implementation. 2.11 Officers from Asset & Procurement Solutions will be responsible for managing the Contract which will be undertaken in accordance with the Council’s agreed approach to contract and supplier management. 3 Measures of success 3.1 Effective roll-out and implementation of the solution 3.2 Robust Contract and Supplier Management 4 Supporting documentation 4.1 Not applicable James McKinstry Head of Asset & Procurement Solutions
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5. Impacts ( http://connect/report-template-guidance ) 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The report is not about a key strategic decision and not subject to the Fairer Scotland Duty. If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality-and-fairer- scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts have been discussed and agreed with Financial Solutions? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The fixed requirements of the new solution will cost £777,078 with an option to consider further spend should the opportunity arise to provide add-ons that could advance the solution during the contract period. The costs associated with contract delivery will be contained within both the capital and revenue budget. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts have been discussed and agreed with People and Organisational Development? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts have been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic Solutions? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact?
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5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? This solution will move in line with the Council’s Digital and ICT strategy vision to move to cloud hosted solutions. Where the impact identifies a requirement for technology, has an assessment been carried out (or scheduled) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☒ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed?