Agenda item

Report of the Cabinet Member for Housing Services is attached.

Councillor Eamonn O’Brien presented the report on behalf of the Cabinet Member for Housing Services, which outlined the proposal to utilise a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) delivered by Independence Community Interest Company (INCIC) for disabled adaptations. This was an important service and the DPS would help prevent bottlenecks and delays, securing specialist workers where appropriate and providing a better service to residents.

Decision:

Cabinet:

1.    Agreed to make a direct award to Independence CIC Dynamic Purchasing System to deliver disabled adaptation works for all tenures; and

2.    Agreed to enter into an Access Agreement for four-years with the option of additional two-year extension option at the sole discretion of Bury Council to access and use the Dynamic Purchasing System provided by Independence CIC.

Reasons for the decision:

The DPS will allow for wider procurement and flexibility in the market. Other benefits include:

·         Greater economies of scale giving better prices.

·         Increased opportunities for local SMEs to allow for greater opportunity to compete and expand into the public sector.

·         Compliance with Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015) and has been advertised in the Official Journal of European Union (OJEU) as well as the UK government Contracts Finder website.

·         Compliant for all contracting authorities to use, negating the need for a new competitive procurement exercise.

·         An ‘open market’ solution designed to provide buyers with access to an unlimited group of pre-qualified providers.

·         Continued refreshment of the supplier base - Unlike a traditional framework, Contractors /Suppliers (Providers) can apply to join at any time. Suppliers can apply to single or multiple lots within a DPS. The rules relating to the usage and creation of a DPS come from The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR2015).

The software system used to access the DPS will enable streamlined monitoring for the progression of works, enable better complaint handling, ensure priority cases can be prioritised. It is compatible with Microsoft 365 and is GDPR compliant.

Other options considered and rejected:

1.    No change to business as usual:

·         The local authority has a statutory duty to deliver the DFG function as detailed in the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, Equality Act 2010 and Care Act 2014. The consequences of not providing DFG’s effectively will be increased complaints of maladministration, monetary fines, and reputational risks.

·         Failure to comply with statutory timescales (12 months from application to payment of grant) may result in Judicial Review.

·         The process in which records are processed makes GDPR requirements a challenge, as finding information to individual clients are not stored in one location. For example, emails from Home Improvement Officers could be inadvertently left in email inboxes rather than saved to client records. This makes complaint handling difficult.

·         Seeking three quotations, for each individual piece of work is both resource intensive and causes delays for the customers.

·         Therefore, doing nothing is not a viable option as the current system does not meet the demands of the borough, is time intensive and does not provide assurances to complete works in a timely manner.

2.    Procure a framework agreement:

·         The cost to procure a new DFG framework for the council would be excessive and would potentially increase existing risks to the council.

·         Accessing an existing framework (e.g., Manchester Framework) is limited to the availability of existing Contractors/Suppliers (Providers) as well as the products available from when originally tendered. It does not allow for the admission of new Providers when the market or customers demanded as such. Overall frameworks deliver savings in terms of time and money.

·         There are recognised benefits in the use of frameworks, however there are important limitations in terms of choice and compliance for DFGs as well as increased risk to be considered.