Agenda item

(a)  Approved the leasing of 32 diesel powered vehicles from Company A for 60 months (5 years) at the new monthly rates set out in Appendix 1 from December 2023 at a total of £367,953 / annum.

(b)  Approved the leasing of 4 diesel powered vehicles from Company A for 60 months (5 years) at the new monthly rates set out in Appendix 1 from December 2024 at a total of £159,152 / annum.

Further to the Cabinet decision of 17^th April 2023 to test through competitive tender two methods of procurement of vehicles for the Council’s Direct Services Organisation (DSO), the Cabinet considered a report that set out the outcome of the tendering process.

The DSO vehicle fleet was required to deliver a range of services including waste collection, waste disposal, grounds maintenance, street cleansing and minor highway repairs.  The recommendation to Cabinet was that the best value option was to enter 5-year lease agreements for 32 diesel powered vehicles to commence in December 2023 and for 4 diesel powered vehicles to commence in December 2024.  The current leasing contracts ended on 30 November 2023 and 30 November 2024 respectively.  The cost of leasing the 32 vehicles from December 2023 was £368k per annum and for the 4 other vehicles it was £159k per annum.  Details of the bids submitted was set out in the report and appendix, which contained exempt information and was considered in Part I of the meeting without disclosing any of the exempt information.

Councillor Mann was invited to address the Cabinet and she asked what savings the administration would be making to offset the cost pressures arising from the recommendation and what steps the Cabinet had taken to ensure best value.  The Lead Member for procurement highlighted that the report had addressed this and confirmed that in 2023/24 the pressure would be mitigated by deleting an unfilled post within the DSO and in 2024/25 there were various options for savings or additional income that would be considered as part of the budget setting process.  The Cabinet noted that market prices for specialist vehicles had risen in recent years and were satisfied that the proposal represented best value.

Lead Members discussed a range of issues including the alternative options such as purchasing the vehicles outright.  It was considered that leasing provided the best value to the Council and whilst electric vehicles had been considered they were considerably more expensive and in some cases not as well suited operationally.

After due consideration, the recommendations were agreed.

Resolved –

(a)  Approved the leasing of 32 diesel powered vehicles from Company A for 60 months (5 years) at the new monthly rates set out in Appendix 1 from December 2023 at a total of £367,953 / annum.

(b)  Approved the leasing of 4 diesel powered vehicles from Company A for 60 months (5 years) at the new monthly rates set out in Appendix 1 from December 2024 at a total of £159,152 / annum.