Agenda item

Report attached.

Councillor Paul Cox presented a report seeking approval to waive the Council’s Contracts Procedure Rules for the appointment of a suitably experienced consultant to provide information relating to the installation of electric vehicle charging points in Council depots.

Councillor P Cox highlighted the intention to appoint the Association of Public Sector Excellence (APSE) as the consultant to undertake the technical research and produce information required to engage an appropriate contractor for the installation works.  APSE could be appointed quickly and following evaluation of the work required a full tender exercise could be carried out for the main project.

Councillor Haworth asked how many charging points would be installed.  Councillor P Cox responded that this would be part of the evaluation work undertaken by APSE.  Councillor Haworth also asked about the public charging points previously sited near the Town Hall.  Councillor Michael Miller queried whether new public charging points would form part of the Levelling Up bid, for example, they could be sited in Council car parks.  Councillor Cox clarified that the report related only to charging points for the Council’s planned fleet of electric vehicles at Willows Lane.  The Leader added that on-street charging points would be a matter for Lancashire County Council.  The charging points originally outside the Town Hall had been relocated to St James Street.  He noted that the technology was rapidly developing, with inductive/wireless power transfer charging possibly on the horizon.

Approval of the report was not deemed a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

The Council had declared a climate emergency in 2017 and since then had been working to reduce its carbon footprint.

Over the last 5 years electric vehicle technology had moved on to a point whereby the Council could consider replacing some of its smaller works vans with electric vehicles.

When researching what electric vehicles would be suitable to be used as part of the Council’s fleet it had become evident that prior to procuring any electric vehicles the Council needed to have electric vehicle charging points available for these vehicles within its depots.

There was not only a need to assess how many electric vehicle charging points would be needed to keep the fleet running, but also whether the mains electrical supply to the depots was sufficient.

It was recognised that the Council did not have the specific knowledge or experienced staff ‘in house’ to undertake the necessary technical research and produce information suitable for engaging an appropriate electrical contractor to install the electric vehicle charging points.

The Association of Public Sector Excellence (APSE) were a not for profit organisation who provided information, advice and expertise to over 300 Local Authorities throughout the UK.  APSE were able to provide the specific knowledge and experienced staff to provide a report containing the necessary information to the Council outlining the most effective way to install electric vehicle charging points.  The Council had previously engaged APSE on a consultancy basis to provide specific knowledge and experience for the public sector decarbonisation project currently underway.

Waiving the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules, meant that APSE could be appointed and quickly commence work, thereby avoiding the longer time involved in running a formal tendering exercise.  The Leader of the Council had expressed a desire that this work should commence during the current financial year.  Once the information provided by APSE had been evaluated and the Council was ready to procure the electric vehicle charging points, a tender exercise would be undertaken to ensure the most economically advantageous contractor was engaged.

Officers believed that APSE were the most suitable consultant to undertake this work because after making reasonable enquiries APSE was the only supplier identified which was able to provide independent advice as they were not a supplier of electric vehicle charging points.  Officers wanted an independent organisation to identify the most cost effective way of installing electric vehicle charging points to Council depots.

Alternative Options considered and Reasons for Rejection

It was important that the appointment was undertaken quickly so the Council could move on with greening its fleet and reducing its carbon footprint.  The alternative would be to delay the procurement of electric vehicle charging points, thus delaying the change from diesel vehicles to electric vehicles.

Resolved                                    -    That Cabinet agrees to waive the Contracts Procedure Rules and grants delegated authority to the Executive Director (Environment), following consultation with the Executive Director (Legal and Democratic Services) to agree the terms of the agreement, to appoint an external consultant as set out in paragraphs 3.6 and 3.7 of the report.