Agenda item

(Housing and Community Services) To consider the attached report (C-015-2020-21).

(1)        The Cabinet agreed that, Gracelands CMS Ltd and Mackie Contracts Essex Ltd be awarded 1-year contracts renewable annually for up to a maximum of 4-further years, for the inspection, maintenance and improvement work to Council-owned void properties in the sum of £277,324.66 and £411,929.58 with an overall weighted price and quality score of 90.96% and 63.04% respectively; and

(2)        The Cabinet agreed that, the overall value of the works be capped to the allocated budgets included in the Capital Programme identified for void works on an annual basis; and

(3)        That, this contract be designated as a serial contract to facilitate the annual adjustment to the tendered rates in accordance with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) BCIS ALLCOS Resource Cost Index of All Construction: All Repair and Maintenance Work #7419.  

The Housing and Community Services Portfolio Holder introduced the report on the acceptance of tender contracts 690 and 790.

The Cabinet noted that in order to undertake the inspection, maintenance and improvement work to Council-owned void properties during the financial year 2020-21 and over the following 4-year period, it was necessary to undertake a procurement exercise based on the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) taking cost and quality into account to satisfy the requirements of the Council’s Procurement Rules. 

Decision:

(1)        The Cabinet agreed that, Gracelands CMS Ltd and Mackie Contracts Essex Ltd be awarded 1-year contracts renewable annually for up to a maximum of 4-further years, for the inspection, maintenance and improvement work to Council-owned void properties in the sum of £277,324.66 and £411,929.58 with an overall weighted price and quality score of 90.96% and 63.04% respectively; and

(2)        The Cabinet agreed that, the overall value of the works be capped to the allocated budgets included in the Capital Programme identified for void works on an annual basis; and

(3)        That, this contract be designated as a serial contract to facilitate the annual adjustment to the tendered rates in accordance with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) BCIS ALLCOS Resource Cost Index of All Construction: All Repair and Maintenance Work #7419.  

Reasons for Proposed Decision:

The existing framework agreements for the inspection, maintenance and improvement work to Council-owned void properties with the current contractors had reached the end of its term.

Qualis Management plan to undertake all the inspection, maintenance and improvement work to Council-owned void properties effective from September 2020 as set out in the Qualis Management Business Plan 2020-26. In order to ensure continuity of service provision until the Qualis Management void team have the resources in place to undertake all the work a new framework contract for the inspection, maintenance and improvements of Council-owned void properties was to be procured for a five-year period based on annual renewals. 

The new framework contract would be let with a high degree of flexibility incorporated in the contract conditions to enable Qualis Management to vary, suspend or terminate the contract for Operational reasons without cost or penalty to the Council.  Having a flexible framework contract in place enables Qualis Management to utilise the external contractors’ resources if required during busy void periods.   

Other Options for Action:

The main alternative options considered are:

(1)        To re-tender the contract on an annual basis. However, this would be time consuming and inefficient. Re-tendering would not guarantee more competitive tenders.

(2)        To re-tender the works based on price alone. However, this would not necessarily return a more competitive tender and would not identify or quantify a quality commitment from the lowest tenderer. 

(3)        To seek quotations on an individual basis for every void property on an ad-hoc basis.  However, this was very time consuming and was not a cost-effective exercise given the volume of ad-hoc void properties carried out per annum, this would breach the Council’s Procurement Rules C2 (9b) with the works exceeding £25,000 in value during one financial year. 

(4)        Procuring the works with just one Contractor. However, from experience, a lack of competitive benchmarking could lead to increases in resources and costs incurred by the Council for administration and management to ensure the performance of the appointed Contractor. Also, due to ad-hoc nature of void work appointing two Contractors enable the Council to better manage potential peaks in void work ensuring the void turn around periods are kept down to a minimum.