Purpose

Under the Repairs and
Maintenance project, the Housing and Property Team have been
procuring the following contracts which are all due to go live on
the 1st July 2026:
·       
Repairs, Maintenance and Capital Delivery (Lot 1) -
£35m per annum.
·       
Mechanical and Electrical (Lot 2) - £2.5m per
annum

Passenger Lifts (Lot
3a) - £850k per annum
Domestic Lifts (Lot
3b) - £300k per annum

·       
Fire Safety and Security (Lot 4) - £1.5m per
annum
·       
Water Hygiene (Lot 5) - £250k per
annum
All contracts will be
on a 5 year term with the option to extend for a further 5
years.
 

Decision

Background to
report:
Under the Repairs and
Maintenance project, the Housing and Property Team have been
procuring the following contracts which are all due to go live on
the 1st July 2026:
·       
Repairs, Maintenance and Capital Delivery (Lot 1) -
£35m per annum.
·       
Mechanical and Electrical (Lot 2) - £2.5m per
annum

Passenger Lifts (Lot
3a) - £850k per annum
Domestic Lifts (Lot
3b) - £300k per annum

·       
Fire Safety and Security (Lot 4) - £1.5m per
annum
·       
Water Hygiene (Lot 5) - £250k per
annum
All contracts will be
on a 5 year term with the option to extend for a further 5
years.
 

Reasons for the decision

Decision made and
reasons:
 
Decision:
To delegate authority to award the
following contracts to the Strategic Director of Housing and
Property Services:
·       
Lift Maintenance (covering both passenger and
domestic) (Lot 3a)
·       
Water Hygiene (Lot 5)
 
Reasons:
Procuring multiple strategic contracts under
the Repairs and Maintenance project has required significant
resourcing across the organisation. This includes the Commercial
Housing Contracts Team, who are leading the procurement activity,
as well as operational teams such as Asset Management, Safe Homes,
and Property Services, and support services including ICT. Each of
these teams has played a critical role in developing procurement
and specification documents and in undertaking evaluations.
 
To manage capacity effectively, the Council
has adopted a phased approach to procurement. Phase 1 covered Lot
1, which has now been procured and is in mobilisation. Phase 2
includes Lots 2, 3b and 4, which are nearing the end of the
procurement process and are scheduled for award before 30 April,
ensuring sufficient time for mobilisation.
 
Phase 3 comprises Lots 3a and 5, which are
being procured via framework agreements. In addition, the Housing
Team is also procuring the Commercial Heating and Ventilation
contract which, although outside of the Repairs and Maintenance
project, is a key contract for both the housing and general fund
property portfolios. However, due to the pressure on teams to
complete evaluations for Lots 2, 3b and 4, progress on the
procurement documentation for Lots 3a and 5 has been slower than
anticipated. This presents a risk that the procurement process may
not be completed in time to allow the incoming contractors adequate
time to mobilise the contracts.
 
Under the Council’s Procurement Standing
Orders, these contracts will be awarded via the Portfolio Holder
Decision Sheet process, which typically takes around 6-8 weeks. In
contrast, the Officer Decision Record Sheet process takes
approximately 2 weeks. To mitigate the risk, it is proposed that
delegated authority to award contracts be delegated to the
Strategic Director of Housing and Property Services via an Officer
Decision Record Sheet. The Project Team would still be required to
obtain Commercial Board approval before submitting the Officer
Decision Record Sheet, and the Head of Commercial Housing Contracts
will deliver a briefing to both the Strategic Director and the
Portfolio Holder prior to the decision being made.