Content

RESOLVED that, following consideration
of the legal advice and options available (in report B.1) and
following its assessment and analysis of the risks and their
mitigations, and the contents of that report (B.1), Cabinet
formally -
 

(a) 
notes the extensive work undertaken on the procurement process so
far, both by Officers and external consultants following the Core
Principles adopted in July 2024 and subsequent decisions;
 

(b) 
acknowledges the impact of Greater Essex being part of the
Government’s Priority Programme and responding to Local
Government Reorganisation, the Council must reassess its position
with regards to the duration of the contract term;
 

(c) 
acknowledges that, in addition to (b) above, the information
received through the current procurement exercise to date would
place the Council in the position of not being able to reasonably
afford the cost should it decide to continue with the service as
currently specified;
 

(d) 
agrees that, in addition to (b) and (c) above, to balance
associated risks, uncertainty and value for money alongside
affordability, the option to purchase the vehicle fleet and the
risk sharing option in respect of DMR will no longer be
considered;
 

(e) 
commits to ensuring it continues to fulfil its statutory duties and
to provide a Waste Collection service beyond the ending of the
current contract in March 2026 and complying with the additional
requirements of the Environment Act 2021 from April 2026;
 

(f)  
subject to (b) to (e) above and having considered the legal advice
and options available (in Part B) and following its assessment of
the advice, analysis of the risks and their mitigations, and the
contents of this report, agrees to continue with the existing
procurement process but with amendments to the contract length and
specification (Option 1) based on the following key principles:
 

(i)           
  the contract term will be reduced
to 3 years with an option for an extension period of 2 years based
upon responding to the risk and uncertainties of LGR;

(ii)          
  a reduction in the service
specification to ensure affordability and comply with our statutory
duty to provide a waste collection service and street cleaning
service;

(iii)         
  the Council will not take any
financial risk on the value of DMR material collected (Service
Delivery Option A); and

(iv)         
  the Council will not fund the
up-front purchase of any vehicle fleet (Vehicle Funding Option
B).
 

(g) 
in addition to (e) and (f) above, a revised set of Core
Specification Principles, as set out in Table 3 of the Portfolio
Holder’s report (A.1), will form the basis of the revised
detailed contract specification;
 

(h) 
authorises the Corporate Director (Operations and Delivery), in
consultation with the Leader of the Council, the Portfolio Holder
for Environment & ICT, the Portfolio Holder for Assets and
Community Safety, the Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring
Officer, following the dialogue stage, to determine the detailed
revised service specification for the Invitation to Submit Final
Tenders stage, ensuring the principles set out in (f) above are
adhered to;
 

(i)   
approves that an additional budget of £100k be made available
for consultancy support funded via the Corporate Investment Fund,
taking the total budget to date to £0.400m; and
 

(j)   
acknowledges that a further report will be presented to Cabinet
following the evaluation of final tenders, which will include
proposed financial / budget adjustments as necessary.