Agenda item

Report CEF22025

The Council held a contract with Chequers Contract Services to provide cleaning services to the Children and Family Centres, Family Contact Centres and Nurseries. The service was for the provision of all cleaning requirements for the Children and Family Centres and associated sites, including daily cleans as well as annual deep cleans. The current contract commenced on 1^st August 2019 for a three-year period with the option to extend for up to two years. The contract had a current annual value of £83,394 including the option to extend for a further two years with an estimated whole life value of £416,970.  The report sought authorisation to use the option to extend the contract for a further two years at a cost of £89,789 for year 2022-2023 and £92,483 for year 2023-2024 with a whole life value of £432,454. The explanation of the overall cost increase of 7.7% and a further 3% for the extension years was provided in the report.  The report also requested an extension beyond term of two months past the current contract term to end on the 30^th September 2024 at an estimated cost of £15,414 with a whole life value of £447,868.  As part of the LBB implementation of the corporate landlord model of property management and to seek best value and consistency of service, the property division had suggested that the demand for cleaning services across the directly delivered services within the operational estate was consolidated and procured with an appropriate lotting strategy. This procurement will have been concluded so that any new contracting arrangements go live on 1^st October 2024. The additional two-month extension of the contract with Chequers until 30^th September 2024 was therefore recommended so that the contract was co-terminus with the cleaning contract for the Civic Centre and Walnuts Offices to allow for participation in this wider procurement exercise.

In response to a question, the Interim Assistant Director for Children’s Social Care confirmed that the 3% uplift had been added by the current contractor to reflect recent increases in the National Minimum Wage, the uplift also brought the cleaning contract for Children’s Centres in line with the Council’s other cleaning contracts.

A Member questioned why the contract was being extended without a further tendering exercise.  In response, the Interim Assistant Director for Children’s Social Care explained that within the current contract there was an option to extend for two years.  The Service was pleased with the performance of the current contractor and felt that extension was the most appropriate option at the current time.  The Director of Children, Education and Families confirmed that the option to extend was an acceptable option within commissioning procedures where the Service felt that good value for money was being provided.

Another Member highlighted the need to give weight to how the service was delivered and the good performance of the contractor.  Many cleaning companies had faced challenges with recruitment as a result of the impact of Covid and if the Service was satisfied with the performance of the contractor, it made sense to grant the extension - an option within the contract.

In response to a question, the Director of Education confirmed that across the Council 3-year contracts, with the option to extend for a further two years, was a typical approach as this enabled services to maintain control and ensure value for money.  As part of the Transformation Programme there was the possibility of joining the Children’s Services Cleaning Contract with the wider corporate cleaning contract.  A Member expressed concern that this may mean that smaller, local providers could be outbid by larger regional or national companies and suggested that the issue should be raised at the next meeting of ERC PDS.

RESOLVED: That the Portfolio Holder be recommended to:

1.  Approve the request to extend the contract from the 1^st August 2022 to 30^th September 2024 at a cost of £89,789 for year 2022-2023, £92,483 for year 2023-2024 £432,454 

2.  Approve the request for an extension beyond term of an additional 2 months (1^st August 2024 to 30^th September 2024) at a cost of £15,414 increasing a whole life value to £447,868.