Issue - meetings

[Report of the Assistant Director for Corporate Governance. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Corporate Resources.]To seek approval to award the contract for Buildings Insurance for Leasehold (RTB) properties to successful tenderer.

The Cabinet Member for Corporate Resources introduced the report which informed the Cabinet of the procurement process undertaken to appoint a provider for the Leaseholders’ Property Insurance Service from 1 April 2017 for 3 years with an option to extend for a further 2 years.

RESOLVED

That in accordance with Contract Standing Order 9.07.1(d) the Cabinet approves the award of the contract for the provision of the Leaseholder Property Insurance Service from 1 April 2017 for a maximum term of 5 years, on a 3 + 2 year basis, to Ocaso S.A. UK Branch.

Reasons for decision

The current insurance contract commenced on 1 April 2014 and was based on a 3 year agreement, with an option to extend by a further 2 years. Due to the substantially deteriorating claims experience over the existing contract period, the current insurers declined to extend the current contract at existing premium rates. It is necessary to ensure that the new contract is in place from 1 April 2017, to avoid any gap in insurance cover for the Council and leaseholders.

Alternative options considered

Haringey, along with eight other London boroughs (Croydon, Camden, Harrow, Islington, Kingston-upon-Thames, Lambeth, Sutton and Tower Hamlets) work as a formal consortium, Insurance London Consortium (ILC), to share best practice in Risk Management and to procure insurance services. In the case of the Leaseholder insurance contracts, these were tendered via the ILC and awarded on 1 April 2014; Haringey were the only authority placed with the current provider, based on price and quality considerations, and the ILC will only re-tender its leaseholder contracts in two years time. It was therefore necessary to undertake a stand alone tender process, outside the ILC, which was managed in-house via the Council’s online tender portal, with support from the ILC external insurance advisors.

There is no framework available to use for leaseholder insurance provision. Procurement of stand alone cover for leaseholder insurance, via an OJEU tender, is therefore the only remaining option available to the Council.