Amendment to Standing Orders

Report: 8
Date: 31 January 2008
By: the Treasurer

Summary

Under the current contract regulations, the Authority must approve all variations in excess of 10% for all contracts with an original value of £5M.

There are concerns that this could slow the approval process down and. therefore approval is sought to amend the scheme of delegation, with Standing Orders to allow the Chief Executive to approve variations for contracts of £5m or more. The Chief Executive will have the discretion to seek approval of the Authority as when felt appropriate.

A. Recommendation

That approval is given to the existing scheme of delegation to enable the Chief Executive to approve variations to contracts with an original value of £5m or more.

B. Supporting information

1. Paragraph 23 of contract regulations currently state ‘For all proposed Contract extensions and variations in excess of 10% of the original Contract value prior approval must be sought from the relevant Officer or Decision Making Body in accordance with the table below. Approval must be sought with sufficient time for a new Contract to be let if need be’.

Contract values and approval requirements
Original contract value	Report required for
Up to £40,000	The relevant Officer in line with a Business Unit’s Local Scheme of Delegation
£40,001 to £999,999	The relevant Officer and Director of Strategic Finance
£1,000,000 to £4,999,999	Investment Board
£5,000,000 and above	The Authority

Table 1: Contract values and approval requirements

2. Under current regulations (once variations are in excess of 10%) the Authority are required to approve all variations to contracts that had an original value of £5m or more. There are concerns that the current drafting of the regulations could slow the approval process down.

3. Therefore it is proposed that power be delegated to the Chief Executive to approve variations for all contracts with an original contract value of £5m or more. The Chief Executive will have the discretion to seek approval of the Authority as when she/he feels appropriate.

C. Race and equality impact

The proposed change to the scheme delegation has no race and equality impact.

D. Financial implications

The proposed change to the scheme of delegation has no financial implications.

E. Background papers

Review of Standing Orders – Full Authority - 28 June 2007

F. Contact details

Report author: Annabel Adams, MPS

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18