Purpose

Approval of a Direct Award procurement/re-procurement of the
adam Dynamic Purchasing System to facilitate the tender process for
home to school transport services

Content

RESOLVED
 
KEY DECISION
 
That the Executive:
 

i)              
Authorised a Direct Award of a contract with the Access Group
under the YPO Framework for the Dynamic Purchasing System known as
“adam”, to facilitate ongoing procurement of home to
school transport and related services.

 

ii)             
Delegated authority to the Executive Member for Highways,
Travel and Assets in consultation with Executive Director of Place
and Economy to take any further decisions and/or actions required
to conclude the procurement process, appoint the preferred supplier
and enter into respective contracts for the delivery of Home to
School transport and related services.
 
 
Reasons for
Recommendations:
 

a. This proposal will facilitate the disaggregation of the
financial processes from WNC, giving the Council better monitoring
of forecasting and spend and is a key part of the Transformation of
the service to meet the needs and requirements of the
Council.

 

b. Taking its own contract under a Direct Award from the YPO
Framework would allow the Council to work with the DPS provider to
further optimize the system to meet the specific needs of North
Northamptonshire as a standalone Council, rather than compromise to
meet needs of the two councils together.

 

c. Taking this decision at this time allows sufficient time
to prepare and develop the market and ensures that there is an
ongoing process and platform for procurement after the expiry of
the current term of the DPS contract. This gives a degree of
certainty to both the Council and the service providers contracting
with it and helps to ensure that the Council can continue to meet
its statutory obligations after April 2024.

 

d. Alternative procurement provisions would need extensive
development and potentially data migration to similarly meet the
Council’s needs. There is no guarantee that the current
service providers would be prepared to sign up to a different
platform, or that the potential new platform can replicate the
levels of operational service provided within the current DPS
platform.

 

e. Transitioning to a new system without sufficient lead in
time to support providers is likely to lead to procurement and
service issues. Providers will need to be supported in changing
their processes to support the new ways of working which could lead
to greater engagement from officers to ensure effective service
delivery and contract management. The launch of a new system
without adequate support may deter providers from bidding for
routes in the future.

 

f. The increased cost of the proposal is minimal against the
overall budget for Home to School Transport and can be absorbed
within it. There is potential for savings from utilising more local
service providers to off-set the additional costs.

 

g. Re-development of the current service to include more
local service providers and resolve current finance issues would
incur additional costs which need to be considered against the time
remaining in the current contract.
 
Alternative Options
Considered:
 

a) Do nothing: The current contractual arrangement under the
DPS will expire at the end of March 2024, subject to any extensions
undertaken by WNC. If the contract is allowed to expire without any
action being taken, the Council will have no process for procuring
Home to School and social care transport. This will leave the
Council unable to meet its statutory responsibilities in this
area.

 

b) Undertake a full procurement exercise to identify an
alternative system that may meet the Council's needs. Soft market
testing has not identified a system that would be able to
immediately meet the Council’s needs without further
development of both the system and Council’s processes and
internal systems within the timescales required.