Issue - meetings

Contract Management

Meeting: 18/09/2017 - Audit, Governance and Standards Committee (Item 37)

37 Contract Management pdf icon PDF 117 KB

Minutes:

The Head of Commissioning and Business Improvement presented this item to the Committee, which set out the Council’s current contract management arrangements and steps that were being taken to raise the overall standard of contract management.

 

It was noted that:

 

·  Most of the Council’s contracts had received positive audits, except for the Hazlitt Theatre and Park & Ride, whose assurance was classed as weak. Since the audit, actions had been reviewed and improvement plans had been put in place for both services.

 

·  Further monitoring was carried out through Key Performance Indicators, which are reported to the relevant committees.

 

·  A new role, Contracts and Compliance Officer – Leisure and Culture, had been introduced and was currently being filled by a temporary agency officer whilst the recruitment to the substantive role was completed.

 

·  Construction projects with a high one off spend with a contractor, as opposed to longer term service delivery contracts, required both good project management as well as good contract management. Paragraph 2.8 showed the successful arrangements that had been put in place for the town centre public realm improvements.

 

·  A further improvement, that planned to raise the standard of contract management, was the refreshed Commissioning and Procurement Strategy, which encompassed contract management.

 

In response to questions and comments, it was explained that:

 

·  The new substantive post holder for the position of Contracts and Compliance Officer – Leisure and Culture would start in the next few weeks.

 

·  A risk assessment had been carried out at the Hazlitt Theatre and there was only one item left outstanding. The Officer agreed to report back to the Committee by email in relation to this outstanding issue and also as to whether there was a sprinkler system in place.

 

·  There were positives and negatives to taking on long term contracts and that there were clear procedures in place if a problem arose.

 

The Committee requested an update on this topic before the end of the municipal year.

 

RESOLVED: That the progress in implementing good practice in contract management is noted.