Issue - meetings
TLS procurement - Responsive Repairs, voids, compliance and planned and cyclical works Contract
Meeting: 14/12/2023 - Cabinet (Item 70)
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Cabinet considered proposals for the Tenant and Leaseholder Services procurement of a responsive repairs, voids, compliance and planned maintenance and cyclical works contract. And was asked to “the letting of a 10 year contract, with provision to extend for a further 5 year period to enable a true alliance between contractors and client. This contract is for the provision of responsive repairs, voids, compliance, cyclical and planned works. It will also include an element of works for corporate properties.”
This contract would cover the following:
? Responsive repairs, voids, compliance, cyclical and planned works;
? Provide an element of service for the council's corporate properties;
? Provide an out of hours service for emergency repairs;
? Maintain a customer contact centre for tenants and leaseholders of the council to call to report repairs.
In developing this contract the Council placed a strong focus on local delivery, directly employed local operatives and the use of local material suppliers. This was in order to add social value to the area through job creation and material supplies. This would also provide the most efficient and responsive delivery through local supply, ensuring that Thanet’s service is given priority, through area buy-in and local knowledge. This approach would also minimise carbon emissions by reducing travel time for operatives and material delivery. The level of work that went into procurement and organisation of a housing service of this scale was extraordinary; as was the progress that had been made within Housing since we brought it back in house.
This contract was last extended in 2020; it cannot be extended further, which means that coming in this May as an administration gives little to no lead time to produce an extended in house service across all areas; much as, as evidenced by my determination to bring Housing back and produce in house temporary housing, and our first in house rough sleeping accommodation, my general inclination is to create and promote in house services wherever possible.
Ideals have to be considered in relation to realities in order to deliver results, and the security of service, especially when what is at stake is the quality of delivered service to a very large number of our residents; and as such focusing on areas that we can deliver in house, such as minor works, and ensuring that our complex and specialist areas function and deliver without interruption is essential. As referenced in the report, we are now choosing to focus heavily on the local economy in housing procurement; our contracts prioritise local jobs, local call centres, and include the requirement for local apprenticeships, to build not only the local economy, but also build skills and employment opportunities.
This combined with our proposed in house expansion of minor works, to explore our delivery of direct services, allows us to deliver not only many highly complex workstreams, but also build our own resilience; and the sheer scale of the number of new strategies being implemented, and the considerable growth of our portfolio means that ensuring reliability of ... view the full minutes text for item 70