That –

(a)     following consideration of the impact of the current levels for tender exercises on the Council’s resources and capacity and being potentially disproportionate to increased costs for purchasing goods and services, an exemption for an interim period be granted;

(b)     the exemption will apply to all procurements with the value of £50,000 to £100,000 to follow the Council’s Request for Quotation Rules, as set out in the Council’s Procurement Procedure Rules; and

(c) the exemption will remain until the Council formally considers the revised Procurement Procedure Rules, which are currently being drafted by the Essex Procurement Partnership, in accordance with the Council’s adopted Procurement Strategy and Collaboration Agreement. 

The reason to proceed with an exemption from the Council’s Procurement Procedure Rules for procurements with a value of £50,000 - £100,000 is to increase capacity within the procurement function conducted by Essex Procurement Partnership and to allow the Council’s resources to proceed with the Request for Quote (RFQ) process.  The exemption allows for the request for Quotation process and associated control measures, established documentation and guidance to be utilised, providing assurance to ensure the Council’s requirements to demonstrate Value for Money are not compromised and to mitigate risks associated with not following the Request for Quotation process.

This will allow for capacity and resource to be redirected as previously detailed within the report.  This exemption represents a pragmatic approach balancing associated risks, enabling the Council and EPP to conduct a more robust and detailed service.

The following options were considered:

1.   Continue with the Council’s current Procurement Procedure Rules Request for Quotation value of procurements £10,00 - £50,000, with the associated impacts to resource as detailed within the report.

2.   Continue with the Council’s current Procurement Procedure Rules for Tenders of procurements with a value above £50,000, with the associated impacts to resource as detailed within the report.

3.   Additional resource to the Essex Procurement Partnership, which is not currently viable within associated budgets and would not alleviate the same quantity of pressure as the recommendation within the report would.