Agenda and draft minutes

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It was announced to those present that the meeting would be live streamed.

The Committee noted the evacuation and housekeeping procedure.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the last meeting held on 7 September 2026.

AGREED the minutes of the meeting on 7 September be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Committee received a presentation from the Procurement and Commercial Director of North East Procurement Organisation (NEPO). The presentation highlighted:

• NEPO is a public sector organisation owned, governed, and held accountable by the 12 North East Member Authorities. Other public bodies such as Central Government, Police, Local Authorities from outside the region, housing associations, and charities could also access services from NEPO as Associates.
• The purpose of NEPO was to support public services and make sure public money worked harder by establishing procurement solutions, commercial expertise, suppliers and contracts that Member Authorities were able to access. This thereby aggregated spend for greater outcomes and avoided local authorities repeating the same work independently. Examples included contracts for furniture, construction, school meals, energy, rock salt, and consultancy.
• The Member Authorities understood local needs and services better than a regional organisation could and therefore remained in control of local priorities, budgets, contract ownership, and service outcomes. NEPO was used when collaborative routes supported local need, value for money, and compliance.
• Member Authorities spent £656m via NEPO solutions (£43m from Stockton-on-Tees (SBC)) however received £239k rebate and £632k Return on Investment (ROI).
• £670m was spent by Associates. The use of Associates helped to extend NEPO’s reach, giving a bigger market presence and therefore greater economies of scale.
• NEPO had a shared technology platform, Open, which was used by all Member Authorities, whether they were spending via NEPO or locally outside of NEPO. There was also a Supplier Partnership Programme which helped suppliers to understand how to participate in both NEPO solutions and local authorities’ local solutions. Suppliers bidding once into NEPO and then being drawn down on by Member Authorities, rather than bidding several times for each individual authority, made the offer more attractive.
• At the time of the meeting there were 484 supplier registrations in the Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council area, 175 Council projects, and 64 call-offs in 2025/26. This was a good indicator of regional engagement and activity, and how suppliers had bid successfully to win work.
• Early planning was seen as key for successful procurement, as it created room for challenging the requirements, ability to understand the market better, and choose the right route to execute the need. Once a specification and timetable had been fixed, much of that opportunity was already gone. The route choice (NEPO or local) should be proportionate, reflecting the requirements and delivery of risk.
• NEPO recognised that they had a role to play in ensuring that the solutions that were in place were as robust as they could be to enable social value to be delivered.
• Contract management was also very important in procurement and SBC was unique in the region with procurement and contract management sitting within the same team. NEPO considered this to be a strength and other authorities would seek advice from SBC on best practice.
• Earlier dialogue with NEPO offered officers the opportunity to compare options before committing to a route, which was particularly relevant for complex or significant requirements. Officers needed to  ...  view the full minutes text for item PEO/35/26

Consideration was given to the Committee’s work programme. It was noted that an extra evidence session was required for the Scrutiny Review of Procurement and Tendering Processes, and the timescales for the review had therefore been extended by one month.

AGREED the work programme be noted and timescales for the Scrutiny Review of Procurement and Tendering Processes amended.