Bristol City Council puts emphasis on supplier compliance

As part of Bristol City Council’s drive for efficiency and its implementation of new procurement processes and systems, it has appointed leading compliance and accreditation business, Exor Management Services, to manage the process of ensuring supplier compliance.

Contractors and consultants working on the Council’s properties, housing stock and local highways will be able to demonstrate their compliance with the Council’s financial, health and safety, insurance and other standards via Exor which will then monitor them to ensure that the standards are maintained.  The specification for the standards was developed by the local authority property officers’ representative body COPROP, working with the South West Regional Efficiency and Improvement Partnership, after consultation with both local council officers and their suppliers.

The aim of the new standards is to give Bristol City Council greater control over the quality of service provided by all of the suppliers it uses across the authority.  This should help the Council achieve the best value for its budgets as well as ensuring residents and business users of its services can have confidence in the quality of those services.

But the initiative also has important benefits for local suppliers too.  The Exor standards are recognised by neighbouring Councils in the South West region, which means suppliers will save time and money through not having to repeatedly submit documentation before bidding for work.  And the other authorities will benefit from not having to carry out these checks themselves.

A Senior Manager at Bristol City Council said “Using the Exor system will help us to ensure that our suppliers meet the standards required by the public sector and will mean that they need only go through the compliance process once to qualify for a range of work with us and other Councils.”

Ian McKinnon, Managing Director of Exor said: “We are delighted to have been selected by Bristol City Council, the largest Council in the South-West, to run this service which will enable suppliers of all sizes to demonstrate their capabilities and position them to win business in the important  public sector market.”

Exor will carry out desk-based assessment of all contractors employed by the Council, ensuring that the contractors’ own standards comply with those set for Bristol City Council.  The Exor desk based assessment comprises a set of questions that each contractor must answer to determine whether their processes are compliant.  Every contractor that passes the assessment will be cleared to carry out specified work over a 12 month period for Bristol City Council without requiring further assessment. 

This not only provides Bristol City Council with a streamlined process for awarding new projects and managing contractors on an on-going basis but also encourages economic growth amongst the wide variety of small businesses that seek work from the Council.

“Local authorities have a huge responsibility when it comes to choosing contractors to carry out a wide variety of works, with severe consequences should they employ a contractor that is non-compliant” concluded Ian McKinnon.  “Utilising the type of desk-based assessment service offered by Exor tackles this risk, enabling local authorities to select contractors confidently – and without the need for onerous paperwork each time.