Minutes Ordinary Meeting 19 December 2024

ORDINARY MEETING MINUTES                                                   19 DECEMBER 2024



8.          PUBLIC QUESTION TIME


     8.1.     DEBRA WALZ

              QUESTION 1
              What is Council’s framework for outsourcing work to contractors and consultants,
              including key criteria such as value for money, contracting practices and policies,
              alignment with appropriate Council plans, identification of risks, feedback on
              lessons learned, community engagement and comparison to internal Council
              employee expertise to undertake the work?

              RESPONSE PROVIDED BY: Trent Grauf, Director Corporate Services
              The framework for outsourcing any goods or services extends to the entire lifecycle
              of delivering a service or project. Consideration is given to the sourcing at both
              planning and execution stages. Planning Stage focus on Service Planning,
              Workforce Planning, Project / Program Planning and also during budget
              deliberations. During delivery or execution, sourcing is considered in terms of
              Procurement, Contract Management.

              In Terms of Service Planning: Council prepares a service plan for each of its
              services it undertakes. The Service Plan not only articulates aspects such as levels
              of service/frequency, but also articulate how each of those services are resourced.
              These are adopted each year with Council’s budget.As any major service contract,
              such as for example recently for cleaning, security, waste collection or lifeguards,
              as they reach the end of their contract, they are reviewed to determine whether
              scope and sourcing model is appropriate. Given this is undertaken on a case by
              case basis, with a focus on high value outsourcing arrangements, as discussed
              last month during the November 2024 Ordinary Meeting deliberations, there is
              opportunity to develop a broader, comprehensive and consistent review model of
              how council sources resources for its projects and service activities.

              In Terms of Procurement: The procurement of Goods and Services by Council
              is carried out in accordance with the Local Government Act 2009 and the Local
              Government Regulation 2012. More specifically, when procuring goods and
              services Council Officers must have regard for the Sound Contracting Principles,
              as detailed in the Act, noting that Value for Money is one of these principles, in
              addition to open and effective competition, developing competitive local business,
              environmental protection and ethical behaviour and fair dealing. In assessing any
              medium or large size contract, an evaluation matrix is applied that assesses the
              preferred contractor based on a number of factors - such as Value for Money,
              Environmental Impact, Experience, Methodology, Safety, Quality, Contribution to
              the Local Economy.