Agenda item

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Sub Committee considered a Gateway 6 Outcome Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services in respect of concrete testing & repairs to Golden Lane and Middlesex Street Estates.

Members noted that, whilst this project had been delivered successfully and under budget, lessons learnt  in respect of grouping projects together under one contract would be applied to similar projects in the future.  The officer advised that, whilst this process was more labour intensive in the  earlier stages of a procurement exercise, it saved time further ahead when dealing with multiple contactors and their sub-contractors etc.

In response to a further question about poor contractor performance, Members noted that monitoring and quality control were very resource intensive.  The Assistant Director advised that,  unless there was a failure during the actual contract period, there were limited options for redress and this included the ability to exclude contractors from future tendering.   The Procurement Team had been looking into how this might be mitigated, given the City Corporation’s bad experiences in respect of  poor performance, contractors withdrawing at a very late stage and the limits on taking legal action.   Members noted that the economy was a factor in sourcing suitable contractors, and were pleased that the work of this Sub Committee had raised awareness about the challenges.    

Members also noted that the Projects Sub Committee (of the Policy and Resources Committee) pooled all lessons learnt, in order for them to be shared across the whole of the City Corporation via the ‘Project Academy’. 

RESOLVED, that – the content of the report and the lessons learn be noted, and the closure of the project be approved.