Issue - meetings

Report ES15020

L B Bromley’s current parking operations and enforcement contract with Vinci Park Services was due to expire in September 2016, coinciding with the planned end date for L B Bexley’s parking contract with NSL. Report ES15020 detailed proposals for the future delivery of enforcement services and other contracts managed within the parking shared service, outlining the range of services and existing contracts to review, and the method of evaluating the benefits of contracting out services. 

Approval to commence a Procurement Gateway review was given in July 2014. The review team considered the best approach for packaging services to achieve the greatest efficiencies and most competitive price. Substantial opportunities existed to realise economies of scale across L B Bromley and L B Bexley and there were a number of active and experienced contractors within the sector to ensure a competitive tendering process. A joint procurement of services provided:

• the best opportunity to ensure the most competitive price;
• the greatest opportunity to maintain service standards at the lowest cost; and
• opportunity for service improvement.

The British Parking Association’s “Parking Management and Associated Services Contract” (BPA Contract) was recognised as the industry standard contract and use of the template was recommended. It was not a framework agreement and allowed for both authorities to have their own specifications, KPI’s and management information. Many aspects of the specifications and KPI’s would be common between L B Bromley and L B Bexley but there was flexibility to allow differences to meet the needs of respective policies and/or standards. The service standards within the specification could be reviewed throughout the course of the contract and no minimum or maximum standards were set by the BPA contract - there was no expectation of having to adhere to ‘industry’ standards. The contract also rewarded good performance and penalised poor performance.

Both L B Bromley and L B Bexley would enter into legally separate contracts with common terms and conditions with a single successful contractor. Contractors would be invited to price each service being sought by the respective councils. Each service would have its own specifications and KPI’s. Each bidder would be required to give a percentage reduction for providing the service to both boroughs and the evaluation would be based on 60% price and 40% quality. The Environment PDS Parking Working Group supported the approach being taken.

Longer-term contracts of up to 10 years were common for parking services, encouraging investment by the contractor. The optimum minimum contract term was considered to be five years, primarily due to depreciation and life expectancy of hardware as a significant investment for the contractor. 

Appendix 1 to Report ES15020 highlighted a full list of services being recommended for inclusion in the contract. Each service area had sub categories and there was no requirement for either borough to adopt a particular service.

Members of the Parking Working Group had been involved in the development of the specification. The Committee supported the recommendations to the Executive. The Chairman indicated that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51