The decision to renew expiring “high impact” contracts by Liverpool Council is to be looked at again to see what measures are being put in place to ensure errors are not repeated.
Last month, the local authority’s cabinet agreed to a costly renewal of 13 contracts that had either run out or were on the brink of expiring. A range of agreements were allowed to end or were perilously close to being void following a review of all the council’s procurement deals after the expensive energy contract debacle. These included community based help for people at risk of homelessness, supporting more than 1,000 households.
The cabinet decision will now go before the council’s audit committee next week who will scrutinise the move. The failure of the council to sort its contracts out attracted criticism from Mayor Joanne Anderson and the government appointed commissioners.
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Chief executive Tony Reeves told the cabinet how the review into procurement had “uncovered embedded practice” and the council had “nowhere to hide in getting this right”. Cllr Kris Brown, Liberal Democrat chair of the audit committee, said he would be asking for changes to the contract processes.
He said: “I’ll be calling for a rolling contract register to be brought to my committee for confidence and assurance. I also want to know - now that cabinet has approved a lot of these contracts, what the process is now to go out to tender to get better value so we’re not in the same position in a year’s time.”
Cllr Brown added the committee, which will be joined by members of the finance and resources committee, will seek to discover if any other contracts are currently outstanding. New roles are being created at the council in a bid to better manage its finances and contracts, with the position of chief procurement officer being set up, earning up to £101,000 a year.
Following the resignation of Mel Creighton, former deputy chief executive and director of finance, a new role is to be created in its stead - Strategic Director of Finance and Resources - earning up to £150,000 a year. According to reports circulated relating to the new positions, securing individuals to fill the roles will cost £27,000, through the appointment of an executive search agency support at the cost of £25,000 and an additional £2,000 to advertise the role externally.
Deputy Mayor Jane Corbett told last month’s meeting “it is very difficult but it does show we’re moving forward” and added that for the council to progress, “everything needs to come out.”
She said the decision to make finance a priority across all the directorates within the Cunard Building was “something we should have done a long time ago.” An extension of a card payment contract worth £400,000 was also agreed, something Cllr Corbett said “shouldn’t have happened like this” while debt collectors are to be in post for at least another two years after contracts were renewed in the nick of time.
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