Decision - Housing Management Lift Condition Report

To seek authority to tender this specialist contract.

This item has been moved forward from the 8^th Oct CMM to 10^th Sept CMM. This is because the extension to the existing contract expires 31-03-08. The new contract needs to go through the OJUE process over 6 months and also requires a minimum of 2 months lead in time. It must be on site 01/04/09 otherwise there will be no contract for the HRA lifts leading to a health and safety issue. Need to commence the tender process in September.

1        That the recommendation to tender for a long term agreement (9 years) for the maintenance, repair and refurbishment of all HRA lifts be approved.

2        That the Director of Adult Social Care & Housing be given delegated powers to approve the award of the contract for the repair, maintenance and refurbishment of the HRA lifts, following financial due diligence and cost comparisons of the tenders offered under OJEU, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing.

1      To enable the council to be compliant in its responsibilities as a landlord it needs to ensure a new contract is in place by the end of this financial year. Taking into account the need to comply with the European tendering regulations and the need to give any new contractor a lead in period of a minimum of 2 months, to ensure he has completed his initial surveys, and transferred the maintenance history from the existing contractor the council needs to commence tender procedures no later than the 12 September 2008. 

2          The Area Panel, Housing Management Consultative Committee and Cabinet preparation timetable does not allow enough time for consultation, completion of the analysis, consultation with leaseholders and residents or the dealing with issues arising during negotiations or financial diligence, as well as being ready to request approval to award the contract to meet the 1 April deadline. In view of this it is requested that authority to enter into the contract be delegated to the Director of Adult Social Care & Housing in consultation with the Cabinet Member.

1          The first option considered is to continue extending the existing contract. This is considered to be poor value for money and does not allow the council a quick and effective process to manage major breakdowns leading to major repairs.

2          The second option was to tender for a new short term contract from 1 to 5 years. This does not give the same economies of scale that a larger contract would and does not allow the introduction of all the necessary major refurbishment/repairs in the life of the contract which would allow the council to seek a reduction in its annual comprehensive service cost as the risk of failure reduces as the lifts are refurbished.

3          A 9 year all in comprehensive services contract with the major refurbishment/repair contract gives the best economies of scale and allows efficiencies as the contractors risk is reduced following major works.  9 years also ensures that the council is not looking to retender to many large contract all at the same time in allowing better use of resources. The use of an all in contract will also improve response time for residents will no debate between repair and refurbishment contractors over who is responsible for the maintenance issues.