Liverpool Council is to tighten the rules around how it awards contracts after it was highlighted in the damning Caller Report.
When it meets next week, the local authority is to sign off on new proposals to “improve accuracy” on how it gives out terms of work to support the delivery of services across the city. A report to the council has said the Best Value inspection in March last year raised “significant concerns” about procurement within Liverpool Council. As a result, the Government issued directions in June 2021 requiring Cunard officers to introduce “best practice Standing Orders and Regulations for contracts and property disposals”.
Current standing orders for council contracts are said to be “overly long” with an “counter-intuitive structure and are not easy to follow”. It is said that they are also “unnecessarily complex” and contain inaccuracies.
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The contract standing orders (CSOs) are required by law to define how the council will procure goods, services and works to support the delivery of services. The report added that the “CSOs are vital to the delivery of best value in the authority and best practice procurement is a critical engine for efficiency, innovation and savings.”
Without a change to the rules, the council could increase delay and expense that will impact residents. The report said that improving the systems around its contracts would minimise Liverpool Council’s risk “of fraud and corruption in procurement by requiring open and transparent processes and an audit trail for decisions and awards of contracts.”
It is also said that the threshold for requiring the council’s cabinet to decide on procurement is low and does not promote best practice. The report said Bevan Brittan, solicitors with local government and procurement expertise, found that as the standard council contract is for three years with an option for a two-year extension, any award worth £50,000 would require cabinet intervention. This was described as “generally disproportionate to the risk and complexity of contracts at this annual value and not a good use of cabinet resources.”
Bevan Brittan has recommended a total redraft of the terms around issuing contracts, including accuracy and best practice and “Decision making, particularly revising the delegations to members and officers and shifting accountability from multiple approvals to the single accountability of service directors and their officers to make decisions and ensure compliance but with the professional support and guidance of legal, finance and above all procurement.”
Upon the completion of this, a longer-term review of the rules aligned to the current review of the council’s procurement service will be conducted. The rule changes are expected to be adopted by full council when it meets at the Town Hall next Wednesday.
