Ref No: 23/62

10 May 2023

Dear Mr Jaines,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request regarding: Number of
contracts awarded to local businesses versus outside firms.

We can confirm your request was received on 10 May 2023. This will be
dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and
answered within twenty working days.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, we
will let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be
required to pay before we will proceed to deal with your request.

If you have any queries about this request please contact the Corporate
Information Team, quoting the above reference number.

Yours faithfully,

Graeme Napier

Freedom of Information
[1]NKDC [2]Facebook [3]YouTube Tel: 01529 414155
Twitter Email:  [4][email address]
[HNG53VF58]​ [5]www.n-kesteven.gov.uk
Kesteven Street ,  Sleaford ,  NG34 7EF
[6]Click to find out more.

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Ref No: 23/62

10 May 2023

Dear Mr Jaines,

We refer to previous correspondence regarding your request for information
relating to: Number of contracts awarded to local businesses versus
outside firms.

We are not able to answer your request as it is due to a few definitions
being required.  Please read the below responses and if you would like
further information resubmit with the refined definitions. The information
is given below:

1 - What are your council's procurement policies and procedures for
awarding contracts? Contract and Procurement Procedure rules are Part 3.5
of the Councils [1]Constitution.

2 - How many contracts has your council awarded in the past year? Please
can you define what you mean by a contract and clearly define the
timescale/period you want the information to cover, for example, when does
the year start and finish? A contract can be defined in a number of ways –
generally, a contract is defined as a legal agreement with someone for
them to work for you or provide you with a service. In layman’s terms this
means absolutely any purchase made and we make thousands over a 12-month
period.  Some miniscule (for example a single PC mouse costing £5) to
hundreds of thousands of pounds. Most of the information you require is
made public on our website where we list all expenditure over £500 and
also the Statement of Accounts may provide guidance on the information you
are interested in. 
[2]https://www.n-kesteven.gov.uk/council-de...

3 - Of those contracts, how many were awarded to local businesses, and how
many were awarded to outside firms? See comments above regarding
definition of contracts and the period of interest.  Please can you define
what you mean by ‘local’. We cannot answer this without clarification
about what you mean by ‘local’ and what you mean by ‘contract’. We also
need to know what they mean by ‘firm’ and if this includes other public
bodies, charities and not for profit organisations, consultants or self
employed persons etc.
4 - How does your council define a "local" business for the purposes of
awarding contracts? Defined within the Councils Contract and Procurement
Procedures Rules in the Constitution Part 3.5 as a supplier within
Lincolnshire or within a 20-mile radius of the county boundary.
5 - What criteria does your council use to assess bids for contracts, and
how are these criteria weighted? Evaluation scoring is specific to each
individual tender and determined to ensure best value, we do not have a
single approach to evaluation of contracts, for example, the criteria for
a major construction project will be very different to the criteria for a
bid for an IT system.
6 - Does your council have a policy or target for the proportion of
contracts that should be awarded to local businesses? If so, what is that
target? No, we don’t have a target.
7 - Does your council monitor the performance of contractors it has
awarded contracts to? If so, how is this monitored? Performance monitoring
is determined at contract specification and pre award stages to ensure a
proportionate approach specific to the contract. We do not have one single
approach to monitoring contracts as our contracts vary significantly is
size and scope. For low value, one off contracts monitoring would be very
different to how we would need to monitor a five or ten year multi
million-pound contract.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the
right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be
submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response,
quoting the above reference number, via email at: [North Kesteven District Council request email] or
by post to North Kesteven District Council, Corporate and Customer
Services, Kesteven Street, Sleaford, Lincs, NG34 7EF.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted through their
website www.ico.org.uk, by email to [email address], by telephone
0303 123 1113 or in writing to Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe
House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Yours faithfully

Graeme Napier

Freedom of Information
[3]NKDC [4]Facebook [5]YouTube Tel: 01529 414155
Twitter Email:  [6][email address]
[HNG53VF58]​ [7]www.n-kesteven.gov.uk
Kesteven Street ,  Sleaford ,  NG34 7EF
[8]Click to find out more.

References

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2. https://www.n-kesteven.gov.uk/council-de...
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https://twitter.com/NorthKestevenDC
4. Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/NorthKestevenDC
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7. http://www.n-kesteven.gov.uk/
8. Click to find out more.
https://www.n-kesteven.gov.uk/

Dear Mr Jaines,

Unfortunately the accounts for the 2022/23 financial year are not yet
finalised. Beyond that, as previously mentioned, the number of contracts
made during the year would stretch into the thousands. Although we do
endeavour to support Lincolnshire businesses as much as possible either
through engaging in contracts directly with them or including this as part
of our social value requirements where appropriate, we do not track the
location of businesses against the contracts and therefore each contract
would have to be inspected to ascertain their location. This would take
well beyond the 18 hour limit set by Section 12 of the Freedom Of
Information Act 2000 and The Freedom of Information and Data Protection
(Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Our Governance and Business Resilience Manager is happy to talk to you
about this if you want to discuss our position with regard to local
purchasing? Her email address is [email address].

Yours faithfully,

Graeme Napier

Freedom of Information
[1]NKDC [2]Facebook [3]YouTube Tel: 01529 414155
Twitter Email:  [4][email address]
[HNG53VF58]​ [5]www.n-kesteven.gov.uk
Kesteven Street ,  Sleaford ,  NG34 7EF
[6]Click to find out more.

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