Purpose

Agree a tenant federation
contract with a chosen provider, on a 3-year term with the option
for a 1-year extension.

Decision

OTHERHAM METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

 

RECORD OF OFFICER EXECUTIVE DECISION

 

Date of Decision:

18/12/23

Title:

Tenant Engagement Service
Contract Re-tender 2024
 

Decision Maker:
(Including Job
Title)

James Clark, Assistant Director of
Housing 
 
 

Details of Specific Cabinet
Delegation
or Delegation contained in the
relevant Sub-Scheme of Delegation.
 

SECTION 4C3: STRATEGIC DIRECTOR OF ADULT CARE, HOUSING AND
PUBLIC HEALTH – DELEGATED EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS
2. Housing
(b) Contract and Service
Development
(c) Housing and
Estates
Sub-Scheme of
Delegation: Assistant Director of
Housing: In accordance with Financial and Procurement Procedure
Rules, matters relating to the specification for works, goods and
services, the seeking of estimates, quotations and tenders, the
evaluation of the same and acceptance of tenders relating to
contracts for works, goods and services in accordance with approved
budgets or supplementary estimates.

Decision:

The Assistant Director of Housing
authorises the re-procurement of the Tenant Federation Contract,
commencing on the 1st of April 2024 for an initial
period of 3 years with the option to extend the contract for
another year.
 

The value of the contract
(inclusive of VAT):

£888,000 (Full 4 – year term)

£666,000 (Initial 3 -year term)
£222,000 (Annual Value)
 

Reasons for the
Decision:

On the
15th of August 2023, the Directorate Leadership Team
agreed that a re-tender exercise to appoint a Tenant Engagement
Service provider would commence and the successful organisation
would be appointed to deliver the new contract from the 1st of
April 2024.
 
On the
1st of September 2023, the Cabinet Member for Housing
and the Leader approved this decision.

Details of alternative
options considered and rejected:

Option 1 - Bring the contracted
and outsourced functions back in-house, investing the current
contract budgetary value in staffing resources.
 
Option 2 - Commission
additional services through our arrangements with the
Neighbourhoods Team.
 
Both of the above options would in effect mean insourcing the tenant
federation contract work, rather than re-tendering, which would
have the following drawbacks:
 
Insourcing could
mean that Tenant Engagement becomes less independent, that vital
community knowledge and relationships are lost and that we no
longer have the advantage of partnering with a smaller more agile
organisation, able to apply for additional funding streams as
required and work with tenants with a greater degree of
flexibility.
 
The re-mobilisation
costs and the additional work and resource needed to insource at a
challenging time for the team would have caused huge disruption at
a time when the Council were entering into a new housing inspection
regime environment and the Tenant Engagement Team were working at
capacity to achieve TPAS exemplar re-accreditation in 2024 and
deliver the Tenant Engagement Framework outcomes.
 

Conflicts of interest
declared by any Cabinet Member consulted by the decision maker
which relates to the decision:

None
known.
 

Dispensations
Granted:
(If any)

N/A

Reports or parts of
reports considered

Tenant Federation Contract
Re-procurement, 1ST of September 2023

 
I certify that this
is a true record of the executive decision to
authorise the re-procurement of the
Tenant Federation Contract, commencing on the 1st of
April 2024 for an initial period of 3 years with the option to
extend the contract for another year.
 
Signed by the Decision Maker  
 

Dated:          5
February 2024
 
Name:
         Ian
Spicer                        
Job
Title:    Strategic Director