Decisions

With the departure of the Director of Public Transport Operations (DPTO) taking place in October 2024, the Chief Executive requested that a search be made for a candidate to fill the role on an interim basis as soon as possible, in order that the appointment could take place prior to the DPTO’s Departure.

As a candidate was needed with relevant transport sector experience and at short notice, Camilleri Appointments were contacted as they had recently been used for 2 other roles within the Transport Directorate and had been successful in identifying appropriate candidates. Additionally, it was felt that other consultancies would not have been in a position to respond as quickly.

Following a shortlisting and interview process, Lawrence Wilson has been selected to fulfil an interim role as the Interim Director of Public Transport Operations until a permanent appointment is made.

It has been agreed to appoint Lawrence for a period of 4 months from 07 October 2024 until the end of February 2025 at a rate of £1,050 per day, 4 days per week (a total of 21 weeks equating to 84 days) up to a total cost of £88,200.

Option 2: Appoint an interim resource to undertake this role until the appointment of a permanent Director of Public Transport Operations is made.

Swarco were appointed as infrastructure providers for Rotherham Transport Interchange and Sheffield Transport Interchange as part of the South Yorkshire ZEBRA projects. They were appointed based on a NEC4 contract through The Procurement Partnership Limited (TPPL) framework.

As current contract costs exceed 10% of original commission total, approval of a further £138,653.68, is requested for these latest change controls.

Option 1 – Approve the increase in value of Swarco’s existing contract by £138,653.68.

Under bus reform legislation, SYMCA are required to undertake a Statutory Consultation before a decision can be made to proceed with bus franchising in South Yorkshire.

Given the scale and scope of the consultation exercise, it cannot be undertaken in house. As such, a tender was issued seeking support for SYMCA with the exercise.

Eight bids were received. The Most Economically Advantageous bid was received from DJS Research Limited.

A decision to launch the consultation will be required to be taken by the MCA board, scheduled for 8th October 2024. In this case it was essential to carry our preparatory work in advance of that decision in order to align with Mayoral expectations around bus reform.

To award a contract for Bus Franchising Consultation Services at an evaluated/estimated contract value of £165,000 (subject to variable cost elements dependent on response rates, etc) to DJS Research Limited following a full open procurement exercise.

A contract is required in relation to services offered by Crest Advisory to organise and support the facilitation of roundtable events chaired by Lord Blunkett and later operation sessions.

Approve.

In April 2022 Bidvest Noonan (BVN) signed a 5-year contract and at the time the hourly Real Living Wage (RLW) had remained relatively static with an increase of 5.5% or from £9.00 per hour in 2018 to £9.50 in 2022.

Between 2022 and 2024 the RLW increased from £9.50 to £10.90 per hour or 14.7%, with the costs were absorbed by BVN.

In 2024/25 the RLW increased from £10.90 to £12.00 or 10.09% and in January BVN requested the value of the contract be increased by £111,687.12 as the most recent increase in the RLW as it would reduce its profit margin to 1% with a significant risk of the contract operating at a loss.
Subsequent discussions have been held and in August 2024, BVN stated that the contract had operated with 4% profit margin and they are only seeking an increase in value to cover the additional costs of the RLW.

Consequently, without an agreement to cover the increased costs of the RLW, BVN state the contract would be unviable and to minimise operating losses would consider providing three months notification of their intent to terminate the contract early.

Whilst the MCA could apply penalties and recover the costs of change, procuring an alternative supplier within a reduced timeframe would risk the quality and value for money of the replacement.

With potential suppliers basing their bids on the latest RLW hourly rate the MCA is unlikely to benefit from a procurement exercise with costs at least equal to that of the request by BVN.

Option 4 - It recommended that a contract change notification is approved to increase the annual contract value of the Bidvest Noonan contract by £188,858.76.