COUNCILLORS are keen to prevent a repeat of mistakes that cost more than £1.6 million of public money.

Flaws in Oxfordshire County Council’s procurement processes led to a bumper out of court settlement to Marston Holdings, after the company challenged the way a car parking enforcement contract was awarded in June 2019.

Marston used to hold the contract and made a legal challenge when it did not win it again.

An internal investigation found the tendering process for the parking contract was ‘weak’ and said there was poor communication between the council’s paid staff and elected senior councillors in the cabinet.

The report said no disciplinary action needed to be carried out, but said the mistake was the result of ‘systematic failure’.

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Reporting to the council’s audit and governance committee on the progress of the resultant action plan put in place last year, head of procurement and contract management Melissa Sage – who was not in place when the errors were made – said several recommendations had been ‘very specific to procurement and its need to change and evolve’.

She said there had been ‘no clear structure or training’ and that ‘no clear templates, guidelines or best practice existed for procurement to use’.

“What this meant in practice was that when the team came to tender something, they were in effect starting from scratch without any market knowledge or experience each time,” Ms Sage told councillors.

She added that a reliance on temporary staff had generated ‘a general feeling of flux’.

However, the size of her team has more than doubled since then, with ‘people recruited according to their specialisms’ with ‘recruitment to all senior positions now complete’.

A procurement handbook, an evolving template for staff, has also been established.

“We have had no successful challenges since the Marston case,” said Ms Sage.

“We have had a couple of exchanges of extremely polite letters with various suppliers, the most notable being the Living Well at Home tender, but these were resolved without any further issues.”

Read again: Council refuses to apologise for £1.6m parking payout

Councillors expressed a desire to view the handbook which was described as a ‘how to’ guide for professionals.

Committee chair Roz Smith said: “I think we’re just looking for reassurance given the £1.6 million that went.

“I think if the working group can have a look at that, get reassured that the processes are there and we are content with them, then that would be really useful.”

Ian Middleton argued for more councillors to have oversight on such matters.

“It is not just the cabinet members who are involved,” he said.

“We all carry the can for this, good and bad, so I think we all need to be aware that all members, particularly in areas where procurement has any impact, need to be engaged in some way.”