Issue - meetings

Joint report by Car Parks Manager and Revenues and Benefits Manager (attached).

The Committee considered a joint report by the Car Parks Manager and Revenues and Benefits Manager (circulated previously) regarding the extension of the current enforcement agents contracts for a further year until 31^st March 2020.

The Car Parks Manager highlighted the following:

·         The current contracts for the recovery of debts via enforcement agents ended on 31st March 2020.

·         A Devon wide framework was set up to procure two providers for this contract.  This procurement resulted in three suppliers being appointed which was not considered to be practical for the council.  A decision was made to withdraw from this framework and consider alternative options.  Due to the lateness of the above Devon procurement exercise not concluding until December 2019, there was insufficient time or resources to undertake a full procurement at this time and the existing contracts had already been extended as far as was allowed pursuant to the current wording of the contracts.

In response to questions, the Car Parks Manager advised the following:

·         The Revenues and Benefits team used the contractor more and were satisfied with the contract being extended.

·         The Council had made the decision to withdraw from the Devon wide framework as the splitting of the workload between three suppliers would not allow for the same coverage and effectiveness for the delivery of the service.