Agenda item

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 he would like to see more movement towards cashless parking within the new contract, without the absorption of service charges for credit card payment; he drew parallels with the recent move to cashless buses. He highlighted that the parking Apps in the current service offer merged parking opportunities from different providers and potentially allowed retailers to reimburse customers’ parking fees. The Portfolio Holder also supported cashless payment as a direction of travel.

RESOLVED that the Executive be recommended to confirm its agreement to:

(1)  procuring services in partnership with L B Bexley;

(2)  procuring parking and associated services as set out at Appendix 1 to Report ES15020, using the British Parking Association ‘Parking Management and Associated Services Contract’;

(3)  the length of the contract being for a five year period, with an option to extend for a further five years, commencing October 2016, plus an option for a discounted ten year contract;

(4)  the timetable as set out at Appendix 2 to Report ES15020 requiring the achievement of a contract start date by October 2016; 

(5)  authority being delegated to the Executive Director of Environment and Community Services in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for approving final service specifications and associated KPIs; and

(6) noting that a review of the parking shared service structure would be undertaken by the end of March 2017 as set out at paragraph 3.10 to Report ES15020.