Agenda item

(To receive a report from Paul Rusted, Infrastructure Commissioner, which outlines the replacement options available to the Highway Service in relation to the Highways Alliance contract which is due to reach full term on 31 March 2017, and a recommended future option which will be presented to the Executive on 5th December 2017.

NOTE: Appendix 1 to the report has been marked as 'To follow')

Consideration was given to a report which asked the Committee to comment on the Lincolnshire Highways 2020 Business Case.  It was reported that the current Lincolnshire Highways Alliance contracts were due to reach full term on the 31 March 2020 and could not be further extended under European Union Procurement Law.  The report outlined the replacement options available to the Highway Service as well as a recommended future option which would be presented to the Executive on 5 December 2017.

Members received a presentation which provided further information in relation to the following areas:

·         Current providers

·         Positives and negatives of current model

·         Options appraisal route map

·         Options heat map

·         Model description

·         Assessment criteria

·         Highways 2020 key dates.

The Committee was provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and presentation, and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         Members commented that the working group had been a very rigorous process and it had been positive to have member involvement as they had been able to contribute to the process.

·         It was noted that 4 or 5 members would continue to be part of the project board and would be able to feed into the process.

·         It was queried what the value of the contracts were and what sort of work would the authority be looking to the market to provide.  It was noted that there was an aim to leave some flexibility in the contract to enable individual items of work up to £1million to be carried out.  It was reported that the contract would be for at least 7 years (It would be a five year contract but an extension could be awarded after 3 years) as this would make any investments in machinery etc. viable.  Members were advised that approximately £48million of works would be handled by the three contracts.

·         It was thought that there would be 6/7 companies which would tender for the highways works term contract.  The other two contracts were more complex as there were fewer companies in the market, and so it was expected that they would all tender.

·         It was queried what the risks were in relation to this contract, and members were advised that there was a risk register for this project, and the risks would largely remain the same as the current contract.  It was noted that some of the existing partners had been through difficult financial times.

·         It was acknowledged that there were a lot of individual risks.

·         To get a functional relationship with the suppliers it was important that the right management was in place, and to ensure that it was understood who was going to turn up in Lincolnshire to deliver the contract.  It was noted that there had been a continuity of management in this contract.

·         It was queried whether charging for officer time at non-compulsory meetings on planning matters was an option, as it was a practice used by other authorities.  It was noted that officer time was charged for in some cases, but the authority did not look to make a profit.  There was a need for caution in this practice to ensure that it wasn't seen as a barrier.  It was also noted that there was a difference in land values between Lincolnshire and some other counties which could justify costs charged in some areas.

·         A member commented that they were pleased to see that the authority was not being complacent about being a band 3 authority, and had been grateful that it had been a thorough process.

·         It was thought that to try and build on the existing model was a sensible thing to do when compared against the other options.  The Chairman commented that he was happy to support option 17.

(Note: Councillor R B Parker abstained from voting)

RESOLVED

1.    That the Committee support the recommendations to the Executive as set out in the report; and

2.    That a member of the Labour Group be added to the Highways 2020 Project Board.