Agenda item

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee considered a Report of the Chamberlain concerning the Target Operating Model pilot for the City of London School.

Several Members were of the view that the talent was available within the respective Bursar’s offices of each of the independent schools to manage many of their own procurement needs and that, when they became involved, the central procurement team had, on several occasions, been ineffective in securing positive outcomes. The thresholds outlined in the Report were too low and Members queried whether these should be increased to provide more operational flexibility.

The Chamberlain responded that when it came to values exceeding £180,000, it was appropriate and optimal, in terms of securing value-for-money, to carry out a full tender (as opposed to seeking quotes) with the central procurement team co-ordinating the process.

The Assistant Director of Category Management & Sourcing in the central procurement team pointed out that, whilst he was disappointed when things go wrong, it should be stressed that the team had delivered significant commercial benefits overall during the past 12 months and he and his colleagues would be working closely with the schools and other institutions to ensure that communication lines were more effective in the future.

The Chairman proposed that the Committee should review how the pilot goes and come back in six months to see if the thresholds should be raised.

RESOLVED – that the Committee:

• Considered and approved that:

o the authority to run non-works procurements up to £180k be devolved to

the City of London School with the option of drawing on the central

procurement team to advise and provide support to the procurement

process where necessary;

o Non-works procurements above £180k up to £300k, may also have more

freedom over procurement process, depending on applicability of UK

procurement regulation. Agreement on process and lead will be made

between City Procurement and the School. The proposed procurement

approach within the (£180-330K spend bracket) will be considered in a

short options report (PT3, which is set out in Appendix 1) by the Chair of

the relevant Category Board.

o In line with the City Surveyor’s Integrated Facilities Management model,

in relation to core property services that are delivered from the centre,

the School’s specific requirements will be included in the specification

for the CoL School LOT. The School will be consulted in choosing the

supplier (i.e. for specialist services whether these should be delivered

in-house or via external contracts) and the provider of core school

services (e.g. cleaning, facilities, swimming pool maintenance, etc). This

will be considered by the City Surveyor when making the decision on the

supplier.

• Noted that a new regular report be prepared to provide an annual update of procurements to the Board of Governors of the City of London School and the Procurement Sub Committee.

• Noted that, if the pilot is considered a success, a further request will be made in future to apply this process to all relevant institutions and departments.