Agenda item

Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Capital Contractor Procurement

Decision:

RESOLVED

KEY DECISION

That the Executive delegated authority to the Executive Member for Housing, Communities and Levelling Up in consultation with the Executive Director for Adults, Health Partnerships and Housing, to procure, negotiate, award, and enter into contracts for the delivery of Electrical Installation Condition Reports, Energy Efficiency upgrades, Kitchens & Bathrooms replacements, Roof Replacements and Homes for the Future retrofit upgrades, to ensure that the Council’s housing stock is maintained.

Reasons for Recommendation: By approving this recommendation, Council officers will be able to: -

· Closely align services with Government legislation, regulation and initiatives, through the use of procured contractors across the two Housing Property Services team areas.

· Procure the new contracts in the most efficient and timely manner, to ensure a fully compliant procurement process is in place for the delivery of its services.

· Provide better value for money to the Council.

· Ensure tenants benefit from the investment in the housing stock across North Northamptonshire.

Alternative Options Considered –The main alternative to procuring contractors to complete these capital works programmes would be to expand the Council’s in house Direct Labour Organisation. This option has been rejected at the present time whilst we focus on harmonising our approach to other areas of the Housing Property Services team. Our Direct Labour Organisation resources are currently being fully utilised to reduce our responsive repairs backlog and undertake void repairs, meaning that we do not currently have capacity within the team for these additional capital works. Some of the projects, such as roofing, are also only expected to occur during a set period of time each year. The option to expand the Council’s in house Direct Labour Organisation will be explored further, via a viability study, during the lifetime of the proposed contracts within this report. A further option that will also be explored as part of this study is the suitability of a hybrid model of part contractor and part in house.

Minutes:

The Chair invited the Executive Member for Housing Communities and Levelling-up, Cllr Matt Binley to introduce a report that sought approval from the Executive for the procurement of Capital Programmes and Projects for Housing Property Services and, via delegation of authority, to appoint appropriate contractors and enter into respective contracts.

Cllr Binley reported that the Council was responsible for the repairs, maintenance and refurbishment of its 8084 properties. Whilst a considerable amount of these works were carried out by in-house teams, there remained a requirement to contract out certain works, especially those requiring specialist and niche skills, if the work was seasonal or for other operational reasons.

The meeting noted that, when it came to outsourcing capital works, the Council had a responsibility to ensure best value for money, operational viability and to consider whether specialist skills or equipment were required.

Cllr Binley stated that discounted alternative options considered as part of the of the report would be revisited before the expiration of the contracts through a viability study. The five service areas requiring contracts were noted as being:

· Electrical installation condition reports

· Energy efficiency

· Kitchens and bathrooms

· Roof replacements

· Homes for the Future

Should the recommendations be approved, it would result in the harmonisation of four of the service areas across both the Kettering and Corby neighbourhood accounts, with the kitchen and bathroom contract being solely for the Kettering account.

An open procurement process would be followed for the majority of options, with a mini competition framework being used for electrical testing and energy improvements contracts, the contracts being procured for between four and five years. The procurement process was anticipated to commence in June 2023 and conclude by February 2024.

The Chair welcomed the feedback of the Scrutiny Commission as part of the process whilst Cllr David Brackenbury spoke to welcome the report as a whole.