Purpose

To provide authority to commission a framework agreement for the provision of vehicle body shop repairs to the Council to be undertaken.

Decision

Approve the commissioning decision for the future Bodyshop Repairs Framework with an estimated contract value of £900k and a contract term of 4 years.

Reasons for the decision

a)    The Council requires a bodyshop repair service to maintain its vehicle fleet.

b)    The Council does not have the ability to deliver the service in-house.

c)    A competitive procurement process is required to ensure compliance with the Procurement Act 2023 legislation.

Alternative options considered

Option 1: Do nothing and allow the current framework agreement to expire.

This option has been excluded as there is a requirement for the provision of body shop repairs and we have a legal duty to compliantly procure a contract for its supply.

Option 2: Further extend existing framework agreement

The current contract has ended, and we have no options to extend under procurement law (value and duration). As ever, the Council must adhere to procurement law, this includes the legislation that was in place when the original contract agreement was procured (the Public Contracts Regulations 2015) and the Procurement Act 2023 (PA23). It is not possible to procure a single supplier due to the size and complexity of the fleet. A large proportion of the fleet are specialist vehicles.

Option 3: Self-deliver

This is not an option; the Council has neither the capacity or the skills to undertake body shop repairs