Decision details

1.    That the report be exempt from disclosure by virtue of the Local Government Act 1972 Schedule 12A, Part 1, paragraph 3 (as amended), in that it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

2.    That the commissioning strategy as outlined within the report based on the re-commissioning of transport services through a bi-borough arrangement be approved and that the preparatory work to establish a new taxi and minibus framework for children to be in place from June 2018 also be approved.

3.    That the Children’s Services contracts for taxis under the WCC Framework be extended until 19^th April 2018 (as permissible under the Framework).

4.    That the taxi contracts as set out in the report be directly awarded from 20^th April 2018 until 31 July 2018 and a corresponding waiver under the procurement code not to undertake competitive bidding prior to contract award be approved.

5.    That the children’s service contracts for minibuses under the WCC Framework as set out in the report be extended until 19^th April 2019 (as permissible under the Framework).

6.    That the minibus contracts as set out in the report be directly awarded from 20^th April 2018 until 31 July 2018 and a corresponding waiver under the procurement code not to undertake competitive bidding prior to contract award be approved,

7.    That the taxi and minibus contracts as set out in the report be directly awarded from 20^th April 2017 until 31 July 2018. 

 Reasons for Decision 

Current provision of passenger transport is managed on a tri-borough approach, however the decision for LBHF to pursue sovereign arrangements in terms of procurement and routing, together with the recent expiry of one of the two major frameworks, sees a recommendation for WCC to develop a commissioning strategy based on re-commissioning transport services through a bi-borough arrangement with RBKC.

The proposed strategy is to extend those contracts that can be (those from the WCC Framework), thereby locking in the current price for as long as possible whilst establishing a new taxi and minibus framework to be put in place (procured) from June 2018, permitting a phased transition from existing contracts as they expire.

The Local Authority (LA) has a statutory duty to provide home to school transport provisions as per the Education Act 1996: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/56/contents