Issue - meetings

Background:

This report set out detail the results of the tender for SEN home to school transport, and sought permission to make arrangements for transport provision for the following three schools (Warren Wood School, Brompton Academy and Rivermead School) and the provision of respite and “Write Trak” transport.

Details of the procurement process undertaken was set out in the report and an exempt appendix contained procurement process tender evaluation information and financial analysis. It was noted that a Teckal company had submitted a proposal for carrying out SEN home to school transport and the report considered the implications of this.

The Procurement Board had considered the report on 4 December 2013 and supported the recommendations as set out in the report.

Reasons:

Whilst the result of the tender exercise achieved a saving on the current spend on transport to the three school sites, the decision of accepting Medway Norse’s proposal achieved a greater saving through the profit sharing arrangement in place.

This option also allows for greater certainty in budget setting by contracting this service for a set annual cost (a 25% change in passenger numbers built into the annual cost).

The single operator per school approach also allows for service quality improvements and consistency of operator and transport staff for the passengers, which had both been highlighted as important to parents and passengers who receive SEN transport.