Burnley Borough Council and Liberata UK Limited - Strategic Partnership, Deed of Variation

Due to Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), there is insufficient management capacity to bring the services back in house prior to LGR.

Running a new procurement exercise is costly and unless the council offers a minimum 8 year term the opportunity is highly unlikely to attract competitive bids. Any such long term agreements will bind the successor authority under LGR to a borough level strategic partnership.

While the council should not make decisions now, that could fetter the decision making of future councils, it can make decisions that are necessary to ensure a smooth transition and to secure ongoing and future best value in service delivery.

A short period of continuity reduces the risk of disruption to core service delivery for Burnley Borough residents in the immediate aftermath of reorganisation.

The extension of this agreement falls within the remit of the permitted modifications to public procurement rules within schedule 8 regulation 74 of the Procurement Act 2023.

This extension, in advance of LGR in Lancashire, will also align Burnley's Liberata contract end date with that of Pendle Council's. In addition to the reasons for the contract extension set out above, given the shared resources across the contracts, Burnley's exit from the contract by the current date of 31st December 2027, could have destabilising effect for services in Pendle.