Agenda item

REPORT OF THE SERVICE DIRECTOR – PLACE

This report refers to the End Project Report and lessons learnt for the Leisure Management Contract Procurement Project.

RESOLVED: That Overview and Scrutiny Committee commented on and noted the Leisure Management Contract Procurement End Project Report.

REASON FOR DECISION: To enable Overview and Scrutiny to consider lessons learned from the major procurement project.

Audio recording – 114 minutes 50 seconds

The Service Director – Place presented the report entitled ‘Leisure Management Contract Procurement – End Project Report’ and highlighted that:

·       The project closure reports were produced to identify lessons learnt and achievements of a project.

·       The leisure contract procurement followed a robust process, which included a competitive bidding negotiation. This mean that bids could be tested before the final specification was produced.

·       The outcome was a 10 year contract with Everyone Active, with a possible additional 5 year extension.

·       Throughout the project there had been a project board and team established, which included specialist consultants and lawyers, where required.

·       This ultimately led to significant financial and quality achievements of the contract, which included capital investment from Everyone Active as part of their bid, alongside Council investment.

·       The use of specialist consultants and lawyers provided good value for money, as they produced a robust specification which achieved strategic aims and it was unlikely the same outcome would have been possible without them.

·       The procurement timeline was challenging, but this had been largely down to the impact of Covid on the leisure market nationally and time was needed to ensure the leisure markets recovered sufficiently.

·       The contract award date was met ahead of the expected deadline.

·       The competitive procurement process was valuable, as it allowed the Council to consider what it wanted to realistically include within the final tender.

·       Everyone Active had a communications plan in place, however there were some teething issues experienced at the start of the contact. This was compounded by the first day of the contract being on a bank holiday weekend during the Easter school holidays, when demand was higher than usual.

·       Everyone Active had accessed the sites prior to handover and started signing people up to the app and had contacted existing members in advance.

·       Concerns from the public regarding the booking system, and whether booking was required, were initially underestimated. However, Everyone Active and the comms team at the Council worked together to address these initial issues and communicate with users.

·       Following these initial issues, lessons had been learnt by the time the outdoor pools opened and this process was much smoother.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Councillor Matt Barnes

·       Councillor Ralph Muncer

·       Councillor Louise Peace

In response to questions, the Service Director – Place advised that:

·       Performance indicators were in place to monitor achievements against goals, including total members, number of casual users and frequency of activity. This data was also provided monthly broken down by demographic.

·       There was also data provided on customer and partner satisfaction, retention of users and mystery visit scores. The first quarterly report containing performance indicator data was included in MIS.

·       Some of the issues identified on the issue log included consideration as to whether the Letchworth Outdoor Pool would be included in the contract, or whether this could be run through a community group, and also whether all year opening was possible.

·       Further issues included whether the living wage would be provided, and whether this was affordable.

·       Investment in Royston Leisure Centre had already been included in the capital programme, however the bidding process was used to test whether there was a market case for this investment.

·       In previous contracts the Council retained a say in fees and charges at the centres, however under the new contract the operator was free to set their own prices. 

·       Following discussions with Everyone Active, it was apparent that issues were normal in handovers, but it was difficult to identify what these might be as they varied by site. Early engagement and discussions on this had been identified as a lesson learnt and was already being implemented on the waste contract service changes.

·       FAQ documents needed to be updated and pushed through all channels.

·       Everyone Active had staff on site prior to the start of the contract and there were also extra staff on site at the beginning of the contract to communicate with users, including those without internet access.

·       A competitive dialogue process had been used on the waste contract, rather than competitive bidding, which allowed the Council to negotiate with bidders to test the market and ensure the best value for money was achieved.

·       Communication had been the biggest lesson learnt from the leisure contract process and the waste and communications teams at East and North Herts Councils were already engaging on this for the waste contract process.

·       An extension to the 10 year contract was not currently being actively considered.

·       The end date of the contract was a risk, as the 31 March was when contracts ended with the financial year and instead for future would look for a September or October start date instead. 

Councillor Matt Barnes, as Chair, proposed and Councillor Tom Tyson seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED: That Overview and Scrutiny Committee commented on and noted the Leisure Management Contract Procurement End Project Report.

REASON FOR DECISION: To enable Overview and Scrutiny to consider lessons learned from the major procurement project.