Decision

Decision made and reasons:
 
To award a contract to Tunstall
Healthcare for planned upgrades and maintenance of community alarm
equipment at supported housing schemes following a direct award via the Procurement for Housing
(PfH) Framework Agreement.
 
The contract is for a fixed
term two year period, which will allow us to undertake a full
commissioning and procurement exercise for when this contact
expires
 
Background:
 
Community alarms are installed within our supported housing
dwellings and offer our tenants a direct “lifeline” to
the onsite scheme manager or out of hours call centre, whilst also
promoting independent living.  The alarm
provides the tenant with a pendant that they can press or is
automatically activated if there is an incident such as a
fall.  This allows us to react quickly
and appropriately to the needs of our vulnerable tenants and
ensures their health and safety remains a council
priority.
 
In
2015 Dacorum Borough Council (DBC) procured a community alarm
installation and maintenance contract with Tunstall Healthcare
successfully winning the contract via a tender process that focused
on value for money.  The contract
commenced in January 2016 on an initial five-year term with an
additional two-year option that was subsequently approved; the
contract ended on 13 January 2023.
 
The
installation element of the contract has focused on upgrading our
supported housing schemes and over 80% of our schemes have now been
completed.  These improvements result in
our community alarms systems migrating on to a digital system,
which is imperative with the ISDN analogue/digital switchover
taking effect in 2025.  The switchover
will make landlines redundant, meaning the old community alarm
system will no longer be functional, hence the pro-active
improvement programme implemented to date.
 
Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic resulted in two years where
the activity within our schemes was limited.  This was due to the vulnerability of the residents
we would potentially come in to contact with and our commitment to
keep our tenants safe during uncertain times.  As a result we have several schemes that still
require upgrading.
 
Through the lifetime of the contract the partnership working
between DBC and Tunstall has proved successful and enhanced the
safety of our tenants within supported housing schemes.  As part of the current specification new smoke
alarms are installed and integrated in to the community alarm
system.  This extra layer of compliance
results in the call centre being notified immediately if there is a
smoke alarm activation.  In addition,
the new door control system has a camera allowing tenants to view
who is requesting access to the building, thus improving the
overall security of the building and individuals.