Decision details

The attached exempt annex is NOT FOR PUBLICATION in accordance with paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of Part 1 of the Local Government Act 1972 in that it contains information relating to business and financial affairs, namely details of the prices submitted by unsuccessful bidders.

The public interest test has been applied to the information contained within the exempt annex and it is considered that the need to retain the information as exempt outweighs the public interest in disclosing it because to disclose it could prejudice the Council in any future procurement of these services.

With the approval of the Chairman of the Growth, Environment and Resources Scrutiny Committee Special Urgency and waiver of call-in procedures have been invoked to suspend the requirement to publish the decision for 5 days prior to publication, and to suspend the 3 day call-in period. This is because the contract is required to commence on 1 April 2018 and the letters of engagement will need to be issued prior to that to ensure that suitable adjustments can be made.

The Cabinet Member authorised the  award of a  new insurance contract  to Zurich Municipal for the annual sum of £727,337-06 (inclusive of insurance premium tax).  The contract will run from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2023.

The Council’s current insurance arrangements come to an end on 31 March 2018 and a tender process under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 was undertaken to attract quotes from the market on a long term agreement basis for the next 3 to 5 years.

As the Council’s liabilities, property portfolio and general make-up has changed significantly since the previous tender exercise, a full review of the existing insurances and the Council’s requirements for the future was undertaken beforehand.

Following this exercise, the tender was drawn up, splitting the insurances across 5 lots. Not all the insurance companies currently operating in the local authority market underwrite business across all the insurances required and so splitting the insurances into lots allowed the Council to attract competitive quotes from a greater number of insurance companies, who would otherwise not have been in a position to quote for the whole of the business.

The lots were split across the whole insurance package as follows:

Lot 1 – Property and Engineering

Lot 2 – Casualty

Lot 3 – Combined Authority

Lot 4 – Motor

Lot 5 – Personal Accident & Travel

When the insurance was previously tendered in 2013, insurance premiums were starting to rise from the very low levels seen previously, however the insurance market has subsequently hardened considerably and it was therefore a concern that the cost of insurance this time would rise. However, by making best use of the tender process and highlighting the Council’s good claims history, costs have in fact reduced slightly in most areas and a saving will be generated overall of 15%, which is around £98,000 per year for each of the contract.

The tender has been evaluated independently by the Council’s brokers, the evaluation criteria being price, policy cover, service delivery and risk management advice/additional services. Three insurers bid for the contract across the 5 lots. Zurich Municipal has been recommended by brokers for each lot following the outcome of the evaluation process as they can provide the best overall package of insurance measured against the set criteria and so are considered to be best placed to meet the Council’s insurance needs for the next 3 to 5 years.

The evaluation results  for each lot were as follows:

The insurance contract could be awarded to other insurers who submitted a tender bid, however as they scored less highly than those recommended, there would be adverse costs implications for the Council or issues with policy cover.

None.

None.