Scrutiny - 27 March 2008
List of previous meetings minutes
The minutes from the last Scrutiny Panel Meeting are below.
MINUTE of the MEETING of SCRUTINY held in Council Headquarters, Newtown St Boswells on 27 March 2008 at 10.00 am
Present:- Councillors D. Moffat (Chairman), Z. Elliot K. Gunn, G. Logan, J. Paton-Day, F. Renton, N. Watson (from para.7), T. Weatherston
Apologies:- Councillor G. Turnbull
In Attendance:- Team Leader - Better Government and Democracy, Principal Committee Officer, Committee Officer
MINUTE SILENCE
1. The Chairman asked that the Committee to observe a Minutes silence in remembrance of Irene Hogg, Headteacher at Glendinning
Terrace Primary School, Galashiels.
MINUTE
2. There had been circulated copies of the Minute of the Meeting of 13 March 2008.
DECISION
APPROVED the Minute for signature by the Chairman.
BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION – E-PROCUREMENT
3. With reference to paragraph 7 of the Minute of 20 September 2007, there had been circulated copies of a report by
the Chief Executive on Business Transformation – E-Procurement. The report explained that the E-Procurement Project had been
initiated in 2000 with a successful funding bid to the Scottish Executive under the Modernising Government Fund. The Proactis
system went live for Planning and Economic Development Reprographics and Accounts Payable in June 2005 and in April 2006 phase
2 of the implementation began, involving business analysis of the existing procedures in each of the departments, implementation
of the system and cost benefit analysis. Phase 3 of the Project is the introduction by March 2009 of both the physical and
embedded purchase cards over an 18-24 month timescale.
4. Mr Kenneth Lawrie, Head of Business Improvement, and Mr Kenneth Ovens, E-Procurement Project Manager, were present at the meeting to speak to the report and answer any questions. Mr Lawrie stressed the importance of Procurement in terms of potential lower cost and, if methods used were more efficient then the less time would be spent procuring and more time spent delivering services. Procurement was included in the Edinburgh Shared Services Pathfinder and as part of this, a project with Edinburgh City Council and Fife Council was currently trying to ascertain whether best practice could be shared, or whether there could be a more definitive move towards shared service to give greater buying power, although it was recognised that this could pose a risk to the local buying environment. Whatever shared solution emerged had to take account of the local business community. At the Council meeting on 21 February 2008 it was agreed that the Council would sign up to a Scotland Excel, a national purchasing scheme under which there were 3 types of purchase: Type A, procured on a national basis for public bodies; Type B, procured by Scotland Excel on behalf of Local Authorities to which all Local Authorities had signed up; and Type C, everything not in Types A and B. It was the latter which related to local level purchasing and this was the project which was currently being discussed with Edinburgh and Fife.
5. Kenneth Ovens explained that he had been seconded from the Internal Audit Team to the post of E-Procurement Project Manger in 2006. Introducing the “Proactis” e-procurement software enabled the Council to use the internet to buy goods and services and also aimed to improve business processes, reduce transactional costs and improve management information. In accordance with the Council’s business practices the project was being managed under Prince2 Project Management methodology, with the Project Executive leading the project. Although there was no dedicated e-procurement project team, there was assistance from the Procurement support unit. By the end of March 2008, there were nearly 700 users on the Proactis system and over 5,000 orders placed, a spend of £5m, and 75-80% of all orders now issued electronically either by fax or e-mail.
6. It was further explained that the roll-out was complete in Corporate Resources, Chief Executive’s and Planning and Economic Development Departments, more than 50% complete in Social Work and 1/3 of the way complete in Education and Lifelong Learning and Technical Services, with a target final completion date of end September 2008. Additional work was being carried out on internal processes, such as Information Technology purchases, and Human Resources adverts. Purchase cards would also be introduced, either as a call-off with a specific supplier, or to be taken to a supplier for goods. E-invoicing was being investigated as a possibility which could help reduce the number of paper invoices received by the Council, along with xml type orders which reduced costs to suppliers, and in turn the Council would expect lower prices. E-procurement was one of a number of projects currently underway within the Council’s business transformation programme. A small sample of orders had been analysed in-house on the benefit of the e-procurement system, and this had showed a potential saving of £15 per order.
MEMBER
Councillor Watson joined the meeting at this point.
7. In response to an enquiry about working with partners and in particular the Health Board, Mr Ovens explained that the Health Board had their own system. The Council had been one of the first authorities in Scotland to look at e-procurement and at that time the national system currently used by the Health Board was not one which met the Council’s criteria at the time of purchase, hence the different systems. However, because national contracts would be in the national system and the Council would use that system, then they should also be compatible with Proactis, the Council’s system. Concern was expressed that greater use of national contracts could eventually push local suppliers and businesses out of the market. Mr Lawrie acknowledged that this was a calculated risk and depended on several elements, including how the Council divided up contracts. The Council encouraged local businesses to bid for contracts and placed orders only with suppliers who were on their approved list of contractors, although there was no discretion available to award contracts to local business. National contracts were controlled by Scotland Excel and the Council also had to be aware of its legal obligation to get value for money. Concern was expressed that internal transactions did not go through Proactis, and that, in some instances, charges seemed high.
8. The Chairman thanked Mr Lawrie and Mr Ovens for their presentation and the helpful way in which they had answered Members’ questions.
DECISION
(a) NOTED the report.
(b) AGREED that:-
(i) although there had been steady progress made since mid-2006 the Committee was concerned about the overall length of
time it had taken to roll-out E-procurement;
(ii) Procurement and the E-Procurement project be reviewed in 6 months.
(c) AGREED to RECOMMEND that:-
(i) sufficient resources be put in place to allow the e-procurement project to be completed; and
(ii) the appointment of a Corporate Procurement Manager be made as soon as possible to ensure the Council had the necessary
high level of expertise in place to meet the demands of modernising procurement.
MEMBERS
Councillors Renton and Elliot left the meeting during consideration of the above item.
PRIVATE BUSINESS
9. DECISION
AGREED under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration
of the business detailed in the Appendix to this Minute on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information
as defined in paragraph 8 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A to the Act.
SUMMARY OF PRIVATE BUSINESS
MATTERS ARISING FROM MINUTE OF MEETING HELD ON 28 FEBRUARY 2008
1. The Committee considered the response to a recommendation contained in the Scrutiny Minute of 28 February 2008.
The Meeting concluded 12.05 p.m.
Unified Solutions.