Issue - meetings

As a landlord the Council must adhere to a range of statutory requirements in order to ensure the safety, security and wellbeing of our residents. The Executive was informed at its meeting on 7 January 2020 of the early termination by MPS Housing Ltd of the Responsive Repairs and Voids contract. MPS terminated the contract within its first year, and the contract expired on 10 March 2020. In accordance with the authority given by the Executive at its 7 January meeting, a fixed-term interim contract has been procured to ensure continuity in service delivery.

The interim contract was awarded for a fixed period of 20 months until November 2021, during which time a longer-term solution for the delivery of housing responsive repairs, improvements, void refurbishment and disabled adaptations must be sought.

The purpose of this report is to  seek the Executive’s agreement to progress procurement.          

Recommendation

It is recommended that Executive:

1.    agrees the recommended approach to procuring a conventional JCT schedule of rates contractual arrangement to deliver the Housing Maintenance Responsive Repairs, Improvements, Voids Refurbishment and Disabled Adaptation services;

2.    agrees to a concurrent project to explore alternative delivery methods; and

3.    delegates authority to the Head of Housing Operations in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Strategic Director and Section 151 Officer  to:

3.1.appoint consultants to provide advice and undertake such work relevant to achieve the procurement; and

3.2.procure and recommend to the Executive contractors to deliver Responsive Repairs, Improvements, Void Refurbishment and Disabled Adaptation works, within agreed budgets, in accordance with the Council’s Contract Procurement Rules.

83.1    Cllr Anne-Marie Rosoman, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Safety, introduced the report setting out the proposed approached to procuring a new contract for the provision of responsive repairs, void property refurbishments, and disabled adaptations to Waverley housing tenants in fulfilment of the council’s landlord responsibilities. The need to procure a new contract followed the early termination of the contract with MPS by the contractor which had been reported to the Executive on 7 January 2020.

83.2    In response to receiving the notice of termination of the MPS contract the council had appointed an interim contractor on a fixed term contract to November 2021 in order to maintain services to tenants. That contract had commenced in early March, although in the current circumstances the extent of the works that could be carried out safely was limited to emergency works. The procurement of a new contracts was a complex process and it was important that the work commenced promptly, and Cllr Rosoman commended the recommended approach to the Executive.

83.3    Cllr Richard Seaborne, Chairman of the Housing Overview & Scrutiny Committee, reported that the Committee had scrutinised this matter in March with the benefit of an in depth briefing from officers prior to the committee meeting. The Housing Overview & Scrutiny Committee had endorsed the proposed procurement approach and welcomed the opportunity to be involved in the exploration of alternative delivery mechanisms as well as understanding the lessons learned from the previous procurement. This work would be carried out via remote meetings and was already being planned with officers in order to meet key milestones in the procurement timeline.

83.4    Cllr Jerry Hyman echoed the importance of learning lessons from the previous procurement exercise. He also queried whether recommendation 3.2 was procedurally correct, and it was clarified that the delegation to officers was to procure tenders from contractors to deliver the services and to make recommendations to the Executive on the award of the contract.

83.5    Cllr Rosoman thanked Cllr Seaborne for his positive comments and the constructive approach of the Housing Overview & Scrutiny Committee to ensuring that the proposals were robust and options were fully explored.

The Executive RESOLVED to:

1.         agree the recommended approach to procuring a conventional JCT schedule of rates contractual arrangement to deliver the Housing Maintenance Responsive Repairs, Improvements, Voids Refurbishment and Disabled Adaptation services;

2.         agree to a concurrent project to explore alternative delivery methods; and

3.         delegate authority to the Head of Housing Operations in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Strategic Director and Section 151 Officer  to:

3.1.    appoint consultants to provide advice and undertake such work relevant to achieve the procurement; and

3.2.    procure and recommend to the Executive contractors to deliver Responsive Repairs, Improvements, Void Refurbishment and Disabled Adaptation works, within agreed budgets, in accordance with the Council’s Contract Procurement Rules.

Reason: to ensure that the Council is able to meet its statutory landlord obligations in relation to repairs and health and safety.