News Update

Week Ending 13th January 2006

NWCE Email Problems

Just a reminder – if you emailed the Centre during the Christmas and New Year period and you have not yet received a response it my be due to the email crash you were informed about in last weeks news update.  We would be grateful if you could resend any emails sent during this time.

Wheeled Bins e-Auction

Warrington Borough Council would like to invite officers and members from authorities in the North West to attend an e.auction for wheeled bins on 30th January 2006 from 12.00 noon in the Council Chamber at Warrington Town Hall. The auction will take place over lunch.

Warrington are leading a collaboration of 9 authorities across the North West and West Midlands for a framework contract with an anticipated delivery of 459,000 wheeled bins to be provided over 3 years.

To book a place please contact Kathy Lang on 01925 443908 or email klang@warrington.gov.uk

NWCE Members Event – 20^th January 2005

Please encourage Councillors at your council not to miss this event. 

We would like to remind you that the North West Centre of Excellence are holding a half-day member’s conference on 20^th January 2005 at the Midland Hotel, Manchester.  The event is completely free of charge.

About 50% of Council's entire budget is spent on procurement.  Members are increasingly involved with making strategic decisions to ensure effective use of resources.  This means that they are also increasingly involved with the risks if those decisions go wrong.

Elected Members are key to driving forward the efficiency agenda in the North West.  Senior Members are responsible for reporting efficiency savings and strategies to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and ensuring that the savings are realistic, achievable and realised.  There is a key role for Scrutiny Members in ensuring that efficiency strategies and savings do not reduce the quality of services to the public.

The North West Centre of Excellence is working with IDeA, 4Ps and other providers to ensure you have all the tools needed to deal with this increasingly complex area of work.

The final programme can be viewed by clicking here.

For further information or to reserve places please contact Bev at NWCE.

Update on Public Procurement Thresholds from January 2006 and

Revised Standard Forms

This gives notice of the thresholds that will apply from 1 January 2006, together with an update on the new standard forms, and their use in advance of Regulations that implement the Consolidated Public Sector Directive and the Utilities Directive. The thresholds can be accessed at: http://www.ogc.gov.uk/index.asp?docid=397

A summary of the main thresholds for public bodies and utilities is shown on the Annex. Authorities should note that because of exchange rate fluctuations, the thresholds in the Annex in most cases show a reduction over current figures. Full details will be published on the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) website next month; these will also include thresholds for the Consolidated Public Sector Directive and the Utilities Directive once the implementing Regulations come into effect. These will be marginally lower than those shown in the Annex.

The revised thresholds given in the Annex will be operational from1 January 2006, but there will be a further change following the implementation of the Directive which is expected to be by the end of January 2006.

You should also be aware that revised forms can be found on the SIMAP website - http://simap.eu.int/forms_el/7814c6a4-d0f5-296b-07e4531726a58f74_en.html These relate to the new consolidated procurement directives and until the Regulations to give effect to those directives come into force, the existing forms which remain in place, should be used - the forms can be accessed at: http://simap.eu.int/old_forms_en/0812dfed-97f5-99b5-1690fe5c5a8b69e5_en.html

However, some external companies who have been appointed as e-senders are now required to use the new forms. Authorities should ensure that companies using these forms only complete fields that are relevant to the existing regulations. 

OGC has received some enquiries on section VI.4 regarding procedures for appeal and are at present advising authorities not to complete this section. They are currently considering how to deal with this requirement once the regulations come into effect.

Project Nomad

ODPM have sponsored a mobile telephony project called Nomad.  It has supported a variety of mobile telephony pilots and early indications are that typically, a Metropolitan Council which has so far made limited use if this technology, should be able to save at least £1m and improve delivery of services.  Areas where this has been piloted include:

°         Revenues and Benefits

°         Housing Repairs

°         Environmental and Regulatory Services

°         Social Services, Single Care Assessment

°         Flexible Working

°         Accommodation Residency

Free consultancy may be available to authorities who are prepared to adopt a strategic approach to mobile telephony and, in particular, work with neighbouring authorities.  One option may be to hold an initial workshop for those councils which are interested.  If you are interested in pursuing this please contact Christine at NWCE.

EVENTS

Centre of Excellence/OGCbuying.solutions P Card Event 16th February 2006

The North West Centre of Excellence in conjunction with OGCbuying.solutions are hosting an event on P Cards. This event is being held in response to requests from Local Authorities to gather further information on P Cards and to also look at the process from start to finish.

This event will take place 10.00 - 13.00 on the 16th February 2006 at Ashton-under-Lyne Town Hall. This is a free event open to representatives from North West Councils, please feel free to forward on to any colleagues you feel this may be of interest too.

To book a place on the event please contact Shelley at the Centre.