Issue - meetings

Background:

This report sought approval to commence the procurement of Medway Council’s home to school travel assistance contract following review and discussion at Procurement Board on 3 October 2018. The report explained that the Council had put in place a Special Educational Needs (SEN) Transport Framework in 2015 and that this Framework was coterminous with the academic year and due to expire at the end of the 2018/2019 academic year.

An options appraisal for the new SEN transport model was set out at section 4.2 of the report. Based on this appraisal it was recommended that the Council implement another OJEU framework and work towards building a Total Transport Solution within the awarded provision.

An Exempt Appendix provided details of the financial analysis in respect of procurement of this service.

Reasons:

A decision is required to allow for adequate time to have the new system in place for the school year 2019/2020.

A Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) would not allow direct awards which have been utilised heavily on the current provision.

In-house provision could result in long term financial issues due to eradicating capacity.

Medway Norse (option 5) would result in long term financial issues due to also eradicating capacity.