Agenda item

[Report of the Director of Customers, Transformation & Resources. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Corporate and Civic Services.]

Haringey Council is conducting a Mini Competition under the CCS Framework RM3821 to Contract the next New Housing Management System that will provide the platform for Haringey to manage a portfolio of approximately 25,000 properties across tenure types.

The new system is expected to be modern and future proof with  an intuitive user interface that knows the user and prompts them to take the actions needed to deliver an excellent customer focused service. It will be a critical business system used in the effective management of the Council’s Housing Services including Homelessness (incl. HRA), allocations, lettings, rents and income collection, housing management, voids and repairs, management of temporary accommodation and non-residential units, estate services, reporting and performance monitoring.

The Cabinet Member for Corporate and Civic Services introduced the report which sought approval to award a contract for the provision of Housing software, and support and maintenance services. The Cabinet Member outlined that the Housing Management IT System was a crucial business system used in the effective management of the Council’s Housing Services, including, homelessness (incl. HRA), allocations, lettings, rents and income collection, housing management, voids and repairs, management of temporary accommodation and non-residential units, estate services, reporting and performance monitoring. Therefore, the system needed to be inclusive and the CCS framework provided the framework for the management of 25000 properties in the borough. The new housing management system was further expected to be modern, intuitive, focused on customer services and reducing service failure. It was also used by neighbouring boroughs.

In response to questions from Cllr Cawley – Harrison, it was noted that this was a more user-friendly system for residents and staff were being trained to use this system well. It was further reiterated that this was a modern system and the Council had been working with Camden and Islington, as former partners in the shared digital service, and sharing their learning from prior implementation of this system. The Director for Customers, Transformation and Resources emphasised that this was a more intuitive system for service users and widely used by other boroughs.

In response to the query about the timing of the decision given the expiry date of the present contact, it was explained that this was actually the start of the procurement process as deemed an upgrade to the current IT system.

Following consideration of the exempt information at item 26,

RESOLVED

1.    To approve, in accordance with Contract Standing Order 9.07.1(d), the award of a contract to the supplier named in paragraph 1 of Part B: Exempt report, for the provision of the Housing software and support and maintenance services for a period of 5 years at a contract value of £1,006,950 (Including implementation and support) with an option to extend for up to a further 2 years at a total maximum contract value of £1,247,152.

2.    To note that this contract includes the provision of software licences, hardware, replacement and new modules, support and maintenance together with migration to the new system.

Reasons for decision

The Council’s current  contract expires in October 2019 and a procurement process has been undertaken to ensure a new contract can be placed that meets the Council’s current requirements.

The new contract will feature migration to the more modern housing system and allow the service to realise savings of around £1,327K over the maximum 7-year contract period with scope for future savings.

Alternative Options Considered.

Do Nothing

This is not a viable option as the current contract for the existing housing management system expires on 31st October 2019.

Renew existing contract

The existing contract could not be further renewed without running an EU compliant procurement.

In addition, the existing software (OHMS) cannot support the new customer focus identified in the 2018-2023 Business Plan for Homes for Haringey and therefore the Priority 5 Housing objectives of the Council.

It is also unable to support the release of savings of £1.3 million identified in the outline business case.

Undertake a full OJEU procurement

The option to undertake a full EU tender had been considered. However, it was deemed that the level of Authority’s resources and time required to complete an EU tender process was not justified when suitable EU compliant Framework Agreements were available.

In addition, the framework provides additional benefits as it enables us access to Government favourable terms and conditions using the new Public Sector Contract (PSC).

Further, the housing application market has shrunk considerably over recent years and there are only two or three potential alternate suppliers for a Council with a housing stock of our size and aspirations to increase this.