Issue - meetings

Purpose: to secure agreement to the proposed approach for procuring a contractor to provide leisure management services on behalf of South Oxfordshire District Council and Vale of White Horse District Council from 1 September 2014 (report attached)

RESOLVED: to

1. jointly with Vale of White Horse District Council, commence the procurement of a leisure management contract under the competitive dialogue process;
2. to set the evaluation weighting for the joint contract at 50 per cent price and 50 per cent quality.

Following the earlier informal briefing on the leisure management contract between the Cabinets of South Oxfordshire District Council and Vale of White Horse District Council, (as set out in the notes attached to the minute book copy of the minutes)  Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Economy, Leisure and Property that asked Cabinet to agree to the proposed approach for procuring a contractor to provide leisure management services on behalf of Vale of White Horse District Council and South Oxfordshire District Council with effect from 1 September 2014.

Mrs E Hards addressed Cabinet.  In response to Mrs Hards’ questions concerning Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and the length of the contract, Ms K Arnold, Shared Leisure Manager, responded.  She advised that KPIs would be subject to discussion over coming months and expected some to be available around August-time.  In terms of the length of the contract that would be subject to discussion with the bidders during the competitive dialogue process but would probably be up to 10 years in length.  Mrs E A Ducker further added that the Scrutiny Committee should have the opportunity to consider the KPIs and should also have sight of the notes from the meetings of the project board.

Cabinet noted the potential drawbacks of a shared contract that included differences between the existing leisure management contracts across the two councils.  These differences compared with the financial benefits of a joint contract, which could bring competitive bids and operational and efficiency benefits in contract management.  Cabinet therefore agreed to enter into a competitive dialogue process in a joint procurement with Vale of White Horse District Council.

Cabinet also considered the evaluation criteria, which according to policy was to make 60 per cent of marks available for the most competitive price and 40 per cent for quality.  In order to ensure that high quality service was given as much regard as value for money and it remained deliverable, Cabinet agreed to allocate 50 per cent of marks for price and 50 per cent for quality.

RESOLVED: to

1. jointly with Vale of White Horse District Council, commence the procurement of a leisure management contract under the competitive dialogue process;
2. to set the evaluation weighting for the joint contract at 50 per cent price and 50 per cent quality.