Contract Award for Postal Services
North Lanarkshire Council · 8 June 2023
Back to Policy and Strategy Committee — 8 June 2023 and its agenda
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Policy and Strategy Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref SP/FT Date 08/06/23 Contract Award for Postal Services From Stephen Penman, Chief Officer (Strategic Communication and Engagement) E-mail penmanste@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07947 997750 Executive Summary The council requires provision of a variety of postal services on an ongoing basis to meet its statutory obligations across a range of service areas. Postal services require to be continuously available to the council with no delay or break. Since 2016, the Scottish Government’s National Collaborative Framework for Postal Services (“National Framework”) has been the route to market to establish our contracts for postal services. Following evaluation of the council requirements against the offers available from the National Framework, committee is asked to approve the award of call-off contracts for the provision of Postal Services (the “Contracts”) to: Royal Mail Group Ltd – for Physical Mail Critiqom (now trading as Adare SEC) – for Hybrid, Scheduled Bulk/Planned (Print and Post) These recommendations follow evaluation of the council’s postal requirements against the alternative solutions and represent the best value for the council. The duration of the Contracts would overlap the National Framework duration by 12 months to ensure there is sufficient time for the council to undertake the procurement call-off process from the next generation of the agreement, and to allow internal services time to test, train staff and implement solutions. Based on previous usage and forecasting demand, the council’s anticipated aggregate spend across these Contracts would be £2,280,282.75 exclusive of VAT. Recommendations It is recommended that the Policy and Strategy Committee: (1) Approve the contract award proposals: From Lot 1 physical mail services to Royal Mail Group Ltd for 2.5 years with contract value of £601,771.70 exclusive of VAT; and From Lot 2 Hybrid, Scheduled Bulk/Planned to Critiqom (now trading as
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1. Background 1.1. Committee will recall previous reports in March 2021 and November 2016 that confirmed the council’s participation and use of the Scottish Government’s National Collaborative Framework’s for Postal Services (“National Framework”). 1.2. The current National Framework was established during 2021 and was supported by officers of the council for specification development and tender evaluation. The National Framework is live for the period 1 July 2021 until 30 June 2025, and it is open for all public bodies in Scotland to use as a procurement route for a range of postal services. 1.3. The National Framework has two lots: Lot 1 – one stop shop (Physical, Hybrid, Scheduled Bulk/Planned, Digital Mail (single contractor appointed is Royal Mail Group Ltd) Lot 2 – Hybrid, Scheduled Bulk/Planned (Print & Post), and Digital Mail Services (single contractor appointed is Critiqom) 1.4. The National Framework continues to be the council’s preferred procurement route to contract its postal services. 1.5. At Committee on 16 March 2023, approval was granted for the council to place a single call-off contract for all mail services exclusively with Royal Mail Group Ltd via Lot 1 One Stop-Shop until 31 December 2023. It was noted in the report that the council would follow-up with a further report to seek approval to award the longer-term requirements, and that there would be the potential to split postal services between the two Framework Contractors as a means of securing savings over current postal methods. 2. Report Procurement Process 2.1. An internal user intelligence group (the ‘UIG’) of technical and procurement representatives was formed to review technical specifications, discuss mailing procedures and requirements across council service areas, options appraisal on routes to market, ways to maximise community benefits and sustainability, and to agree the procurement strategy that would deliver maximum benefit for the council via the contract. 2.2. The estimated spend on postal services over a 2.5 year period dictates that the procurement procedure be undertaken in accordance with the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015. Adare SEC) for 2.5 years with contract value of £1,678,511.05 exclusive of VAT. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement All ambition statements
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2.3. The National Framework has been determined as the preferred procurement route, particularly since officers from the council were involved in establishing this framework. Furthermore, it secures economies of scale by representing all public bodies’ postal requirements. 2.4. The National Framework has two alternative lots, with each having a sole contractor. It is not possible to hold a mini-competition between contractors of different lots, so comparison of each contractor’s solution (commercial and technical) was completed as desk-based analysis. 2.5. After research and evaluation, the UIG determined: Physical Mail is only available through Royal Mail Group Ltd, and this could continue to be sourced from National Framework Lot 1. This would not require any change to existing mailing procedures. A switch of Contractor for Hybrid, Scheduled Bulk/Planned (Print and Post) from Royal Mail to Adare SEC could enable major savings. Based on the recurring requirements for postal services during 2022 and application against National Framework rates, the UIG determined that estimated savings as follows: o Hybrid £28k per annum. o Scheduled Bulk/Planned £52k per annum. o Total estimated annual saving £80k The switch of contract for Hybrid, Scheduled Bulk/Planned (Print and Post) solution could be implemented fully by the Contract start date of 1 January 2024. The UIG’s technical analysis indicated that switching to Adare SEC will require a change to operational procedures, IT reconfigurations and security testing and extensive training across the full operational user base. The estimated internal costs would be one-off and in the region of £15-16k, which would still result in a net saving of approximately £64k in the first year of contract. 2.6. A 2.5 years contract period (1 January 2024 until 30 June 2026) is proposed as this would ensure continuity and stability, and permit time for the next generation of the National Framework to be placed and implemented before the council considers its next generation of postal service contracts. 2.7. Based on previous usage and forecasting demand, the council’s anticipated aggregate spend across these contracts would be Lot 1 Physical Mail - £601,771.70 exclusive of VAT Lot 2 Hybrid, Scheduled Planned/Bulk - £1,678,511.05 exclusive of VAT TOTAL aggregated value £2,280,282.75 exclusive of VAT 2.8. Officers from Strategic Communication and Engagement 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 The contracts will deliver the following outcomes.
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3.1. Appointment of contractors who have the experience and capability to deliver robust postal services which meet the council’s needs. 3.2. Procurement procedure that is compliant with the procurement legislation and internal procedures. 3.3. Best value that is both demonstrable and achieved. 4. Supporting documentation N/A Stephen Penman Chief Officer (Strategic Communication and Engagement)
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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? 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 Finance? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Estimated costs are based on historic usage. Actual spend will be dependent on the usage of postal services which is determined by the requirements of the business activity across all Service Areas. 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 Resources? 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? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 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 ☐
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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? For hybrid mail, this change of supplier and contract will require a new client to be used on Council devices, a new online portal for staff to use and a new security assessment to be carried out to ensure any information stored by the supplier adheres to Council security standards. Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) 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? 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services.