Content

Salford City Council – Record of
Decision
 
I, Councillor Youd, Lead Member
for Finance, Support Services & Industrial Relations and Chair
of the Procurement Board, in exercise of the powers contained
within the Council Constitution
do hereby approve:
 
·     
To Award the Contract forSales Agency services for
Dérive housing at Longshaw
Drive, Little Hulton.
 

Detail required

Answers

Title/Description of Contracted
Service/Supply/Project

Sales
Agency services for Dérive
housing at Longshaw Drive

Name of Successful
Contractor

Plumlife Homes Ltd (Great Places)

Supplier Registration Number

(to be
supplied by Corporate Procurement)

Type of organisation

(to be
supplied by Corporate Procurement)

Private Limited Company

Status of Organisation

(to be
supplied by Corporate Procurement)

Choose an item.

Contract Value (£)

1.75% plus VAT of sales (expected to be in the region
of £200,000 in total)

Contract Duration

24 months

Contract Start Date

03/07/2023

Contract End Date

02/08/2025

Optional Extension Period 1

6 months

Optional Extension Period 2

N/A

Who will approve each Extension
Period?

Strategic Director (extension <
£150k)

Contact Officer (Name &
number)

Lead Service Group

Place

How the contract
was procured?

(to be
supplied by procurement)

Bloom

Framework Details (where
applicable)

(procurement
body, framework reference & title, start/ end date

Mini Competition

Funding Source

Capital Programme

Ethical Contractor (EC): Mayor’s
Employment Charter

 

EC: Committed to sign Charter

 

EC: Accredited Living Wage
Employer

 
The reasons
are:
This
appointment aims to secure the disposal of up to 43 of the homes as
open market sales to help support on going housing programme and
support delivery of sustainable mixed tenure community. 

 
Plumlife were
appointed to provide pre-sales services at Longshaw Drive via
Bloom, when this fee quote was also
provided.  We are now at a time in the
programme where further services are required to allow the contract
for sales agency services via Bloom.
 
The
Council need to appoint an external sales agent as the expertise
and resources are not available in-house.
 

 
Assessment of Risk: High
Should this appointment not be
made sales of the homes could be delayed which will have a direct
impact on scheme viability and the ongoing wider housing delivery
programme.
 
The source of funding
is: Place Capital
Programme
 
Legal
Advice obtained:
Supplied by: The Shared Legal
Service.
When commissioning contracts for the
procurement of goods, services or the execution of works, the
Council must comply with the requirements of the Public Contracts
Regulations 2015 (PCR) and its own Contractual Standing Orders
(CSO’s) failing which the decision may be subject to legal
challenge from an aggrieved provider. CSO’s stipulate that
where a suitable framework exists, this must be used unless there
is an auditable reason not to do so.
 
The Council’s contractual arrangement
with Bloom for Specialist Professional Services, which commenced
1st December 2019 for a period of four years, allows the Council to
instruct Bloom to either undertake a mini-competition between providers or to place a
work order directly with a suitable provider in certain justifiable
circumstances. In order to justify a
direct award on this commission it has been demonstrated that
Plumlife have previous experience and
prior knowledge of the scheme, and the project managers, Identity
Consult, are supportive of the appointment and satisfied that cost,
quality and value for money is being obtained.
 
In addition, given the earlier lack of
interest from the market when the services were originally
tendered, the direct appointment of Plumlife via Bloom, is justified in the
circumstances.
 
Financial Advice obtained:
Submitted by: Alison
Woods, Interim Commercial Finance Manager.
Date: 13th June 2023
The aforementioned Plumlife
costs estimated at £200k, are built into the overall approved
Longshaw scheme costs of £39m, which are included within the
approved Place Capital programme. (These scheme costs will be met
from a combination of borrowing, Homes
England grant and Brownfield Land grant).
 
Ultimately, the overall scheme is
included within the approved viable Derive RP business plan and
self-finances on a cross subsidy basis between PRS, affordable and
social rents, together with shared ownership and market sales.
 
Procurement Advice obtained:
Supplied by:  The Corporate Procurement Team.  Deborah Derbyshire x 6244
The original project for sales and marketing
was advertised through the Bloom portal and no bids were received.
The project lead with Identity Consult had discussions with
Plumlife (who are part of Great Places
Housing Group) made the appointment to Plumlife by obtaining quotations for a two stage process. Due to the potential value of the
second stage was directly awarded through the Bloom portal which is
a compliant route and complies with the Procurement Contract
Regulations and the Councils Contractual Standing Orders.
 
 
HR Advice
obtained – N/A
 
Climate Change Implications
obtained – N/A
 
Contact Officer: Joe Costello
      Tel. 07976414920    joe.costello@salford.gov.uk
 
This matter is not subject to
consideration by another Lead Member.
 
The appropriate scrutiny panel
to call in this decision is the Growth & Prosperity Scrutiny
Panel.
 

Signed:                                   
Dated: 12th July 2023
Lead
Member for Finance, Support Services & Industrial
Relations
 

 
This decision was published on
12th July 2023.
 
This decision will come into force at 4.00 p.m. on
19th July 2023,
unless it is called-in in accordance with the decision-making
process rules.