RESOLVED that Cabinet -

(a)    agrees to enter into a Collaboration Agreement for the delivery of joint procurement services for a three-year period on substantially the same terms as set out in Appendix A of the Portfolio Holder’s report (A.2) with:

·           Braintree District Council

·           Castle Point Borough Council

·           Epping Forest District Council

·           Essex County Council

(b)    authorises the Director for Governance, being responsible for the Council’s corporate procurement function, to sign the final Collaboration Agreement on behalf of the Council;

(c)    agrees that Essex County Council should be the Accountable Body under the Collaboration Agreement acting as Lead Party, which includes responsibility for the day-to-day management of the service and its financial administration and managing seconded staff;

(d)    notes that the Collaboration Agreement provides for annual contributions from the Council, which can be met from within existing budgets, although subject to review as part of the annual budget setting cycle to respond to changes such as inflationary increases;

(e)    notes that further secondment or employment of staff to Essex County Council to support Essex Procurement Partnership, is fully and jointly funded by its Member Authorities;

(f)     supports exploration of additional resource to support the legal support to the Essex Procurement Partnership, in particular for procurement and contract legal advice;

(g)    endorses the continuous improvement approach as identified seeking views on the existing partnership and joint working through an internal questionnaire to feed into the arrangement for the next three years;

(h)    approves the Procurement Strategy for recommendation onto Full Council for adoption as required by the Council’s Policy Framework; and.

(i)     instructs Officers to regularly update the Portfolio Holder for Assets and Community Safety, as being responsible for procurement on the content and quality of the Council’s Contract Register and Procurement Project Pipeline ensuring it is kept up to date, enabling Council projects and business as usual can be delivered through the approved Essex Procurement Partnership Prioritisation Approach.