Content

Salford City Council – Record of
Decision
 
I Councillor Youd, Lead Member
for Finance and Support Services and chairman of the Procurement
Board, in exercise of the powers contained within the
Council Constitution
do hereby approve:
 
·     
to Award the Contract for Document Storage and
Retrieval Service, as detailed in the table
below:
 

Detail required

Answers

Title/Description of Contracted
Service/Supply/Project

Document Storage and Retrieval Service

Name of Successful
Contractor

Restore PLC

Supplier Registration Number

(to be supplied by Corporate
Procurement)

05169780

Type of organisation

(to be supplied by Corporate
Procurement)

Private Limited Company

Status of Organisation

(to be supplied by Corporate
Procurement)

Non-SME

Contract Value (£)

£52,845.91      per annum estimated
average

Contract Duration

60 months

Contract Start Date

01/02/2024

Contract End Date

31/01/2029

Optional Extension Period 1

24 months

Optional Extension Period 2

n/a

Who will approve each Extension
Period?

Strategic Director (extension <
£150k)

Contact Officer (Name &
number)

Anthony Hilton 686-6250

Lead Service Group

Service Reform & Development

How was the contract procured?

(To be supplied by
procurement)

Framework Call-off (Direct)

Framework Details (where
applicable)

(Procurement body, framework reference
& title, start/ end date

ESPO Framework 390-22 – Document Management
Solutions Lot 2

Funding Source

Revenue Budget

Ethical Contractor (EC): Mayor’s Employment
Charter

 
 

EC: Committed to sign up to charter

EC: Accredited Living Wage Employer

 

 
The Reasons are:
The Council has a need
for the off-site storage of over 14k boxes of various sizes. The
previous contract expired and there is a requirement to renew this
arrangement. Following a desk top exercise undertaken by the
Procurement Team of the available frameworks it was established
that contracting via the ESPO framework would be the most
economically advantageous option. 
 
Options considered and rejected
were: None.
 
Assessment of Risk:
Not renewing the contract would
put the Council at risk of increased costs and there is risk of not
achieving further cost savings, if action is not taken to destroy
the boxes past their destruction date and not cancelling the shelf
spaces for boxes deemed ‘out’. Risk of
enforcement action by the ICO if records are held beyond their
destruction date. Risk of loss of data if records located in
council offices are not returned to the archive and their details
are removed from the inventory.
 
The source of funding
is: Revenue budget.
 
Legal Advice obtained:
When
commissioning contracts for the procurement of goods, services or
the execution of works, the Council must comply with the public
procurement regulations and its own Contractual Standing Orders
(CSO’s), failing which a contract may be subject to legal
challenge from an aggrieved provider. CSO’s apply to every
contract, including temporary ones, for the procurement of
supplies, services and the execution of works undertaken by or on
behalf of the Council, subject to certain exceptions listed in the
Orders. CSO’s stipulate that where a suitable framework
agreement exists, this must be used unless there is an auditable
reason not to.
 
The
route to market adopted by the Council, the ESPO Framework
Agreement, follows an exercise undertaken to consider other
procurement options for the contract for preparation, collection,
storage, retrieval, secure disposal of documents and any associated
services (detailed in the body of the report). The terms and
conditions established under the framework agreement govern the
contracts let under the framework although each contract will
inevitably have some differences to reflect the agreement struck
between the parties to the contract.
 
To ensure the
procurement process is compliant, the Council will need to have
followed the procedure set out in the framework agreement for
direct award to Restore, and the award will commit the Council to a
5-year arrangement with the option to extend for a further 2
years.
 
Financial Advice
obtained:
The storage costs are
charged by P-Card to the finance revenue cost centre C0068 5714 and
then internally recharged out on a monthly basis to the individual
service areas.
 
The SCC revenue budget
on GL code 5782 for 2023/24 is £26,005 and to date
£93,122.69 have been charged against this GL, creating a
current overspend of £67,317.69.
 
£29,668.14 of
the £93,122.69 costs relates to the Restore storage costs and
the remainder relates to the Sure Removal costs.
 
The forecast year end spend for
the Restore costs is £59,336,28 creating a budget pressure of
£29,668.14 on the Restore costs alone.
 
Procurement Advice
obtained:
Contractual Standing Orders
states that where there is a framework this must be used unless
there is an auditable reason not to do so.
 
ESPO Document
Management Solutions Framework 390_22, commenced on
16th January 2023 for a period of 2 years with an option
to extend up to 2027.  Any call-off
contract from this framework can be for up to a maximum of 7
years.
 
Lot 2 Document Storage and
Retrieval Services was selected, as this provides for the
preparation, collection, storage, retrieval, secure disposal of
documents and any associated services.
 
The current storage location is within Salford and a move to
another provider would incur huge retrieval and transportation
costs of the 14k+ boxes currently in storage.  At current rates this would cost circa £66k
of additional expenditure which the Council does not have. A move
to another provider is deemed unnecessary given the financial
constraints currently been challenged by the Council.
 
The option that gives the
Council best value for money is to place a direct award from Lot 2
with Restore for a period of 5 years with the option to extend for
a further 2 years.  This will achieve
significant savings in the region c.£60k over a five-year
term, which could be maximised further if action was taken to
destroy boxes past their destruction dates and shelf spaces are
cancelled on boxes ‘out’, as alluded to in this
report.
 
HR Advice obtained:
N/A.
 
Climate Change Implications
obtained:
The main carbon impacts of
storage are likely to be transport, heating, and
dehumidifying.  Ideally transportation should be kept to a
minimum and documents stored in facilities that require minimal
heating and dehumidifying. As documents are removed from
storage because they are no longer required, they should be
securely recycled.
 
The following documents have
been used to assist the decision process:
·     
Report to Procurement Board on 10th
January 2024.
 
Contact Officer: Anthony Hilton
Telephone number: 686-6250
 
This matter is not subject to
consideration by another Lead Member.
 
The appropriate Scrutiny
Committee to call-in the decision is the Overview & Scrutiny
Panel.
 
 

Signed:     Cllr J
Youd     Dated:      10 January 2024.
           
    Lead Member
 

FOR DEMOCRATIC SERVICES USE ONLY
 
*          
This decision was published on 12 January 2024
*          
This decision will come in force at 4.00 p.m. on 19 January
2024 unless it is called-in in
accordance with the Decision Making Process Rules.