Agenda item

To consider and endorse, or make recommendations to the Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways, Transport and Waste on the proposed decision as attached at Appendix A to; give approval for awarding a two year extension with Amey until 31 August 2020; approve the procurement of the Road Asset Renewal Contract and delegate authority to the Corporate Director for Growth, Environment and Transport to approve the award of the subsequent contract to the preferred bidder; and, delegate authority to the Corporate Director for Growth, Environment and Transport to award extensions of the Road Asset Renewal Contract in accordance with the possible extension clauses within the contract.

Roger Wilkin (Director of Highways, Transportation and Waste) and Andrew Loosemore (Head of Highways Asset Management) were in attendance for this item.

1.    Roger Wilkin (Director of Highways, Transportation and Waste)introduced the report that set out the proposal to extend the Highways Term Maintenance Contract with AMEY for a period of two years and to re-procure the Machine Resurfacing Contract. Mr Wilkin said that the proposed recommendation restored confidence that the current contract provided a balance of quality, innovation and cost.

2.    Andrew Loosemore (Head of Highways Asset Management)said that the contract commenced in 2015 and the Highways Maintenance team had undertaken a number of visits to other Local Authorities and worked with both Large and Small, Medium Enterprises (SME’s) to understand market engagement and what was available to Kent County Council. Three options were identified however based on the initial evaluation, option 3 was deemed to be the preferred delivery model.                           

3.    Mr Loosemore acknowledged and agreed to amend the typographic error in paragraph 7.2 of the report to read “Commencement of procurement – December 2017.”

4.    In response to questions the officers provided further information.

5.    Mr Wilkin agreed that there were performance concerns with Amey in 2015 and a recommendation was made at the time to Members of the Environment and Transport Cabinet Committee, not to extend the existing contract of 5 years and put in place a 12 month extension. Since then its improvement has been evidenced through the quarterly performance reports. Mr Wilkin said that Amey had replaced its Senior Management team and had developed a culture of improvement through collaborative working.

6.    Mr Wilkin agreed that there was a need to look at how Members could be involved more widely with contracts. He advised Members that due to the procedural changes in government the commissioning process meant that contracts needed to go through a large number of Member Boards and Panels. For future commissions of such a nature it would be beneficial to have more informal meetings.

7.    In terms of contract management the division underwent a number of audits including contract management maturity examinations led by the Strategic Commissioner through the Budget Programme Delivery Board. The Board was satisfied that the division had the correct structure and personnel in place to effectively manage contracts and was seen as an exemplar of this however Mr Wilkin welcomed any scrutiny from Members.

8.    Barbara Cooper (Corporate Director for Growth, Environment and Transport) advised Members that the Strategic Commissioner was part of the working group as well as finance and many others to ensure there was challenge from across Kent County Council. Mr Vincent Godfrey was part of this work and deliberately involved from the beginning.

9.    In response to a request for a more robust report, Mr Wilkin referred Members to the Appendix of the report which was the Commissioning Plan for the process and provided a lot of detail. The appendix summarised that whilst there was alterative models of delivery, option 3 was most beneficial in terms of quality outcomes for the community. In terms of cost benefit analysis, Mr Wilkin said there was room to improve the model however the model at the current stage in time outweighed that benefit.

10. Mr Wilkin confirmed that there was clauses within the contract as putting in place alternative arrangements would have taken an exceptional amount of time. However it was agreed that contracts would come back to the Environment and Transport Cabinet Committee to look at the performance measures as part of good contract management practice and if there was any learning to be made, this would be used as a mechanism to work closely with the providers to improve their performance rather than terminate the contract.

11. Mr Balfour welcomed the recommendation to put contract management on the Work Programme.

12. Mr Balfour reminded Members that there was a separate item within the recommendation to award extensions of the Road Asset Renewal Contract.

13. In response to Mr Bird’s suggestion, that a formal review of the Highway Maintenance Contract be brought back to the Environment and Transport Cabinet Committee, Mr Balfour advised Members that it was a regular feature on the Work Programme and was happy for this to be added.

14.The recommendation in the report was then put to the vote.

Carried (13votes for, 4 votes against)

Mr A Hook, Mr M Whybrow, Mr R Bird and Mr B Lewis asked

 that their votes against the recommendation be minuted.

15. RESOLVED that the proposed decision at Appendix A of the report to:

                      i.        give approval for awarding a two year extension with Amey until 31 August 2020;

                    ii.        in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways, Transport and Waste , delegate authority to the Corporate Director for Growth Environment and Transport to award the final available year extension with Amey up to 31 August 2021;

                   iii.        approve the procurement of the Road Asset Renewal Contract and in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways , Transport and Waste , delegate authority to the Corporate Director for Growth Environment and Transport to approve the award of subsequent contract to the preferred bidder; and

                   iv.        in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways , Transport and Waste , delegate authority to the Corporate Director for Growth Environment and Transport to award extensions of the Road Asset Renewal Contract in accordance with the possible extension clauses within the contract

be endorsed.