Procurement of Consultancy Services

The request was partially successful.

Benjamin Barnes

Dear Sir/Madam,

Please could you provide a breakdown of which mechanisms you procure consultancy services from, specifically:

1. Do you use national procurement frameworks to procure consultancy?
a. If so, which frameworks do you use, and what proportion of your consultancy spend over the last 12 months has been on each of the frameworks you are part of.

2. Do you use third party neutral vendors/procurement solution providers (eg ESPO, Bloom, Procurement hub) to procure consultancy?
a. If so which do you use, and what proportion of your consultancy spend over the last 12 months has been on each of the vendors you use.

3. Do you use internal frameworks to procure consultancy? (IE frameworks that are not national, that you administer yourselves or share with a small number of other local authorities)
a. If so what proportion of your consultancy spend over the last 12 months has been on each of the frameworks you have and when will they expire/re-open for applications.

4. Have you procured consultancy services through your own unique, project specific tender processes? (for example advertising a tender for a specific consultancy piece of work)
a. If so what proportion of your consultancy spend was procured through this route, and where do you advertise such opportunities?

5. Have you procured consultancy services through any other mechanisms in the last 12 months? (for example direct awards). If so what proportion of your consultancy spend was this for.

Yours faithfully,

Benjamin Barnes

Kirkpatrick Angelene, North Lanarkshire Council

Dear Mr Barnes

I acknowledge receipt of your request which is receiving attention.

I shall contact you again when I am in a position to respond more fully to your request.

Yours sincerely

Angelene Kirkpatrick
For Freedom of Information Co-ordinator
North Lanarkshire Council
Civic Centre
Windmillhill Street
Motherwell
ML1 1AB

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McKay Neil, North Lanarkshire Council

Dear Mr. Barnes

 

Request for Information

 

I refer to your email of 10 July 2019 seeking information in relation to
the procurement of consultancy services.

 

Having investigated, I regret to advice that there is no central data set
from which the information sought in your 5 part request, can be easily
extracted.  North Lanarkshire Council is a large local authority and
various different departments of the Council will have undoubtedly made
use of consultants.  Therefore, in order to collate the information
sought, your request would have to be widely circulated throughout the
Council and would involve the scrutiny of a large number of records. 
That, as you can appreciate, would be highly labour intensive and I have
to advise that the cost of so doing would exceed the amount prescribed for
the purposes of Section 12 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act
2002.

 

That said, and in order to be of some assistance, I can advise that some
information relevant to your request can be obtained through the Council’s
contract register which is available via Public Contracts Scotland.  For
ease of reference the link to the relevant page of our website is as
follows: -

 

[1]https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/inde...

 

I can advise that North Lanarkshire Council, having regard to the
provisions of Section 21 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act
2002, has established a procedure whereby any person who has requested
information and is in any way dissatisfied with the decision on that
request, can within forty working days require a review of that decision
by writing to the Head of Business for Legal and Democratic Solutions,
Civic Centre, Windmillhill Street, Motherwell ML1 1AB.  Accordingly, if
you are dissatisfied with this decision and seek such review please write
to the Head of Business for Legal and Democratic Solutions.

 

I would advise, also, that in terms of Section 47 of the Act a person who
is dissatisfied with a notice given by the local authority under Section
21 of the Act - ie. a notice following a review of a decision by a local
authority, or by the failure of a local authority to give such a notice -
may make application to the Scottish Information Commissioner for a
decision as to whether, in any respect specified in that application, the
request for information to which the requirement relates has been dealt
with in accordance with the Act.  Such an application must be made within
six months of the review decision and be in writing or in another form
which, by reason of it having some permanency is capable of being used for
subsequent reference. The application must state the name of the
applicant, and provide an address for correspondence. The application must
also specify the request for information to which the requirement for
review relates, the matter which gave rise to the applicant’s
dissatisfaction with the original decision of the local authority and the
matter which gives rise to the applicant’s dissatisfaction with the
decision on review by the local authority or the failure of the local
authority to issue such a decision.  The Scottish Information Commissioner
can be contacted as follows:-

 

Scottish Information Commissioner

Kinburn Castle

Doubledykes Road

St. Andrews

KY16  9DS

email: [2][email address]

 

Appeals to the Scottish Information Commissioner can also be made online
via the following link: -

 

[3]www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal

 

I hope this information is sufficient for your purpose.  If, however, you
require further information – or I can assist in any other way – please
let me know.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Neil McKay

Freedom of Information Co-ordinator

Democratic and Legal Services

North Lanarkshire Council

Civic Centre

Windmillhill Street

Motherwell

ML1 1 AB

Tel : 01698 302 484

 

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