Issue - meetings

Report of the Cabinet Member for Housing Services is attached.

The Cabinet Member for Housing Services presented a report seeking approval to proceed with a full procurement to establish the Council’s own Framework for Repairs and Maintenance services (“Repairs and Maintenance Framework”), in compliance with the Procurement Act 2023. The Repairs and Maintenance Framework will be structured into two broad Repairs and Maintenance Lots. This package is designed to have less lots with 1 to 2 main repairs and maintenance contractors delivering a wider range of services under a ‘General Building’ Lot. The second lot is for ‘Specialist Services’ and is broken down into 7 individual sub lots covering electrical repairs, aids & adaptations, drainage, glazing, painting, pest control and scaffolding. 

The Repairs and Maintenance Framework is projected to have an estimated spend of circa £4-5 million over the life of the framework which is 4 years.  The framework will have a greater emphasis on social value outcomes and SME participation. The procurement is scheduled to be concluded in July 2026. Following this, a subsequent Cabinet report accompanied by an Award Report providing a full audit on the tender process will be presented to seek approval for awarding the Repairs and Maintenance Framework.

Decision:
Cabinet:

Approved the procurement and development of the Repairs and Maintenance Framework for  housing repairs and maintenance service.  

Reasons for decision:

To maintain compliance with statutory obligations of the Procurement Act 2023 and ensures principles are fairness, transparency, value for money, and accountability.

Bury Council must urgently prioritise value for money in the repairs and maintenance budgets by significantly reducing uncontrolled spending. In doing so seeks the best balance of cost, quality, long-term performance and lifecycle value for repairs and maintenance works.

A full tender issued with Bury Council designing lots to reflect service needs and then publicly advertising the contract. This is to accommodate incumbent suppliers and give fair opportunities for local and regional contractors to tender. 

Alternative options considered and rejected:

Use external Frameworks to source Bury’s requirements

Rejected: Framework providers typically apply a minimum 2-3% management fee. On a projected framework value of £5 million, this would amount to approximately £100,000 - £150,000, a cost the Council would avoid by delivering the framework directly.  In addition, such Frameworks have limited influence over framework terms and pricing models, and SME representation at framework level is often low.

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Councillor M. Smith queried how local SME’s could be attracted if they had no previous dealings and where would they find these contracts.

In response, the Cabinet Member for Housing Services described the procurement pathways available with more engagement making partnership working better which included medium sized enterprises.