Issue - meetings

RESOLVED:

That the award of a contract for three years to two suppliers; Cheesman Bros Ltd and AG Axtons for the supply and distribution of a fresh fruit and vegetables was approved. The total contract value for all lots was £2.58M.

Reason for Decision:

The contract awards supported the Draft Vision for Surrey in 2030, the ambitions and themes of the Transformation Programme by meeting the high service and quality standards for food supplied for Surrey schools, involving the use of local suppliers and producing a saving against current contract value.

The awards supported Commercial Services for the Council in assisting school governors meet their statutory requirement to provide school meals.

The current contracts which were extended in agreement with the incumbent bidders expired on in 31 October 2018, and the new contract would commence on 1 November 2018.

The tender had been conducted in compliance with the requirement of Public Contract Regulations 2015 and Procurement Standing Orders.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Children and Education Select Committee]

The Cabinet Member for All-Age Learning introduced a report which requested approval for the award of a contract for the supply and distribution of a fresh fruit and vegetables for Commercial Services (CS). This would provide continuity of supply of the fresh produce required to deliver the school meals service in Surrey schools.  Elmbridge Council also used the contract for supply of meals in their care homes and other premises.

She went on to explain that school governors had a statutory requirement to provide school meals and the Council had a discretionary responsibility within the Education Act 1996. This contract was key to support the delivery of the school meals service through the Council’s trading arm Commercial Services which was also an award winning service.  Strict legal standards are prescribed for school meals and fruit and vegetable consumption is a key requirement.  It was also a key target of the Obesity Strategy that fruit and vegetable consumption be increased within the target age range of the school meals service.

The supply and delivery of fruit and vegetables into schools was not an easy contract to deliver and hence procure but it was absolutely business critical to the supply of meals.  The requirement was for many and frequent small drops within a tight delivery window through Surrey roads and school gate congestion.  Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) require missed or sub quality items to be immediately replaced requiring additional vehicle movements and the costs of vehicles and drivers with the number of small drops make this challenging for suppliers, but promote a right first time approach to performance.  Local produce was an aim of the contract but there were high volume items required that were not grown in Surrey or even the U.K.

RESOLVED:

That the award of a contract for three years to two suppliers; Cheesman Bros Ltd and AG Axtons for the supply and distribution of a fresh fruit and vegetables was approved. The total contract value for all lots was £2.58M.

Reason for Decision:

The contract awards supported the Draft Vision for Surrey in 2030, the ambitions and themes of the Transformation Programme by meeting the high service and quality standards for food supplied for Surrey schools, involving the use of local suppliers and producing a saving against current contract value.

The awards supported Commercial Services for the Council in assisting school governors meet their statutory requirement to provide school meals.

The current contracts which were extended in agreement with the incumbent bidders expired on 31 October 2018, and the new contract would commence on 1 November 2018.

The tender had been conducted in compliance with the requirement of Public Contract Regulations 2015 and Procurement Standing Orders.

Mr Tim Oliver declared a non-pecuniary interest in that he was Leader of Elmbridge Borough Council which also used the suppliers recommended in the report.