Decision details

1. The Council has statutory obligations to provide quarterly, bi-annual and annual service and testing requirements to comply with health and safety and statutory requirements.

2. The Council has a contractual obligation with its tenants to provide reactive and planned maintenance in a timely manner, providing emergency repairs as necessary.

3. This proposed appointment of new contractors ensures that these services will enable the Council to fulfil its obligations.

4. The Councils Contract Procurement Rules stipulate that Executive Cabinet approval followed by a delegated member decision is required for all contracts over £100,000.

5. The procurement process has identified local and regional contractors who can provide acceptable levels of service for the Council and its Clients which will add value to the Councils Service provision and improve professional delivery of maintenance repairs.   

1. The option of seeking a waiver to extend the existing delivery arrangements for the Reactive and Planned Maintenance services was explored but rejected on the basis that there was no reasonable justification for doing this.

2. The option of bringing the services in-house was considered but ruled out due to lack of capacity within the present staffing structure to deliver the service. In addition, there are concerns that insufficient skilled trade’s persons could be recruited to provide adequate 24-hour cover.  Also, it was deemed that overhead cost would significantly inflate the delivery cost.

3.   The option of tendering the services in a combined tender with general building maintenance was also considered but rejected. The Council’s research and past experience in tendering repairs and maintenance services has shown that a limited number of contractors would express an interest.  Usually larger contractors are attracted which have the diverse skill base to cover all work categories.  This would therefore, likely to deter local companies from expressing an interest in these tender opportunities.