2015-03-31 Planning & Organisation Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                  31 MARCH 2015


Governance
10                       DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY: PROCUREMENT & CONTRACTING
DOCUMENT INFORM AT ION




Author                              Governance Advisor, Paul Bright
                                    Executive Office

Index                               ECM/ Subject/ 27.12 Delegations of Authority

Attachments                         1.    Delegation of Authority: Procurement & Contracting


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Not applicable.

RECOMMENDATION
That Council note the report by the Governance Advisor to the Planning & Organisation
Committee Meeting dated 31 March 2015 and:
A.                       Repeal the current Delegation of Authority by the Council to Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
                         titled Procurement & Contracting; and
B.                       Authorise the new Delegation of Authority by Council to CEO titled Procurement &
                         Contracting as set out in Attachment 1.



REPORT
Delegations are the process by which Council delegates its local government powers to another
person (CEO or subordinate) to carry out the various functions relative to Local Government. The
Local Government Act 2009 (the Act) authorises Council to undertake procurement and
contracting activities provided in the Local Government Regulation 2012 (the Regulation).

The Act permits Council, by resolution, to delegate a power contained within the Act and
Regulation to the CEO. Council’s approval is sought pursuant to Section 257 of the Act, to
delegate powers contained in the Regulation to the CEO to undertake procurement and
contracting activities and authorise payments to the amount of $1,000,000 (excluding GST) as
set out in Attachment 1.

Under the current delegation, the CEO is authorised to make, enter into, amend or discharge
contracts for up to $200,000 (excluding GST). The reason for increasing the financial threshold is
to remove the need for Council to approve contracts above $200,000 (but below $1,000,000)
which have been included in the budget and have followed the required procurement practice.
This will enable a quicker turnaround between finalisation of procurement processes and the
formal awarding of contracts to reduce any delays in the delivery of the capital works program.

As an example, the previous round of Council meetings saw a report on a pathways project
referred to Council due to the contract value being above the CEO’s current delegation limit.
This was a straight forward construction project which was held up for 3 weeks while the report
worked its way through the agenda, committee and Council decision making process. With the
Council endeavouring to fast track the delivery of the capital works program, this project can
commence sooner. It had already been approved by the Council via the budget process as part
of the capital works program and it was simply formalising the adoption of the successful tender
in accordance with procurement process.

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