North East Lincolnshire Council is to develop a new delivery model for a range of key services currently delivered on its behalf by Equans.
The model will see the majority of services returning to Council operation, with an aspiration to continue work with existing sub-contractors and local supply chain to deliver high quality public services and support the local economy.
Equans, and its subcontractors, currently deliver several services on behalf of the council, including those around highways and transport (and related activities like enforcement, lollipop patrols etc), building control, security and facilities management, design services such as architecture, highways design and civil engineering, and the Planning service.
The current contractual arrangement with Equans comes to an end in June 2025 and the Council has had to consider options for future delivery.
Over the last six months, the Council has carried out an in-depth, service by service, review of current and potential future arrangements. The options from the review have been evaluated using HM Treasury five case model.
It has considered options around re-procurement, bringing services in house, establishment of an arms-length delivery company (similar to the way Lincs Inspire operates) and partnership / joint venture with other organisations, including neighbouring councils.
The recommendation to pursue a hybrid model of future work, bringing most services back in house, and going to the market for specialist providers to get best value on others, was approved by Cabinet on 14th February, after the paper was previously discussed by a Joint Economy and Communities Scrutiny Panel and Full Council over the last few weeks.
Cllr Philip Jackson, leader of the Council, said: “With the contract coming to an end next year, now is the right time for us to look at future arrangements for each of the services that Equans currently provide. We need to make sure that the arrangements that we put in place in the future are right to deliver our priorities for North East Lincolnshire.”
Article from NELC.
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