§ Mrs. Ann TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what contact his officials have had with Burns International to discuss a variation to the tender to provide his Department with office services; and if he will make a statement; [14874]
(2) if he will make it his policy to ensure that a full cost assessment is made of any changes proposed by Burns International in its tender for office services and that they are compared against the cost of the in-house bid. [14876]
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility for the subject of the questions has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mrs. Ann Taylor, dated 20 March 1995:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions relating to various aspects of the recent successful tender by Burns International (Burns) for Regional Office Support Services within the Employment Service (ES).22WMy decision to award contracts to Burns in ES Northern Region, Office for Scotland and Office for Wales was reached following a market test carried out in accordance with Efficiency Unit guidance. It represents best value for money for the ES and therefore better value for money to the taxpayer. Since that decision in January, discussions have taken place between Burns and my people focusing on aspects of service delivery and final contract price. Such post tender negotiations, with our preferred tenderer, are part of our standard procurement process and are undertaken in order to finalise contractual detail prior to contract signature. I can assure you that any changes proposed by Burns in order to meet the requirements set out in the competition for this work will not involve amending the price that they will charge the ES.Within ES market testing, it is our policy to ensure that any variations to the tender price which result from post tender negotiations are fully assessed in line with Efficiency Unit guidance. This assessment involves full financial comparisons with the tender proposals of other bidders, including the in house bid team, to ensure that the preferred tenderer continues to offer the ES best value for money.I hope this is helpful.