Agenda item

Council Energy Contract 2021-22 to be tendered value above £180k

Decision:

(a)  Delegate authority to the AD of Place Operations, following consultation with the Lead Member for Sustainable Transport & Environmental Services, to access a legally compliant framework, award call-off contracts and agree and finalise terms and conditions with suppliers, for a 12-month fixed price corporate energy contract .

 

(b)  Note that this is an urgent key decision and in line with Part 4.2 Rule 16.1 – Special Urgency Access to Information Procedure of the Council’s Constitution, the approval of the chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee has been obtained that the making of the decision cannot be reasonably deferred.

 

(c)  Note that the Chief Executive exercised her powers under rule 1.4 part 3.6 of the Constitution (Urgency Provisions) to approve the commencement of the procurement process.

 

(d)  Note that the AD of Place Operations will initiate and execute an energy procurement strategy for the period 2022-2025 for report and approval by no later than July 2021, for execution by no later than October 2021.

Minutes:

The Associate Director, Place Operations introduced a report on the Council energy contracts.

 

The current corporate energy contracts would expire on 31st March 2021.  Failure to award a new contract from 1st April 2021 would incur significant ‘out of contract’ charges with an adverse revenue expenditure of approximately £170,000 per month until a new contract was entered into.  It was a Constitutional requirement that Cabinet approval be given prior to the commencement of tendering for contracts in excess of £180,000, but in view of the tight timescales it was noted that to avoid the adverse financial outcome the Chief Executive had used urgency provisions in the Constitution to give delegated authority to the Associate Director Place Operations to take the necessary steps to put in place contract provision for 12-month period with a view to developing an energy procurement strategy by July 2021 for the next three years.

 

Lead Members discussed the future options for green energy and agreed this would be an important consideration in future contracts.  The Cabinet agreed the recommendations, subject to the requirement that the Associate Director’s delegation include consultation with the Lead Member for Sustainable Transport & Environmental Services.

 

Resolved –

 

(a)  That delegated authority be given to the AD of Place Operations, following consultation with the Lead Member for Sustainable Transport & Environmental Services, to access a legally compliant framework, award call-off contracts and agree and finalise terms and conditions with suppliers, for a 12-month fixed price corporate energy contract .

 

(b)  That it be noted that this was an urgent key decision and in line with Part 4.2 Rule 16.1 – Special Urgency Access to Information Procedure of the Council’s Constitution, the approval of the chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee has been obtained that the making of the decision cannot be reasonably deferred.

 

(c)  That it be noted that the Chief Executive had exercised her powers under rule 1.4 part 3.6 of the Constitution (Urgency Provisions) to approve the commencement of the procurement process.

 

(d)  That it be noted that the AD of Place Operations would initiate and execute an energy procurement strategy for the period 2022-2025 for report and approval by no later than July 2021, for execution by no later than October 2021.

Supporting documents: