Agenda item

Report of the  Director of Placemaking and Housing. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Housing & Planning (Deputy Leader).

 

The UK Housing Act 2024 requires landlords to have an Electrical Installation Condition Report on all their rental properties’ electrical installations, fixtures and fittings including communal spaces. Haringey Council is procuring a contractor to carry out these checks every five years or at change of occupancy. The EICR contract will run from Feb 2025 with an option to reprocure at years, 3, 4 and 5 without incurring penalties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The report was introduced by the Cabinet Member for Housing & Planning (Deputy Leader) and sought approval, in accordance with CSO. 9.07.1 (d),

to award a contract for up to five years for the provision of planned maintenance, repairs and testing Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICR) compliance for domestic electrical and communal electrical distribution systems.

 

In response to questions from Cllr Connor, the following was noted:

 

-       That building in-house capacity for this provision would not be a quick process and would not likely impact the service requirements within the year. Any adjustments would only be considered towards the end of the contract term.

 

-       Whilst there was no formal Service Level Agreement (SLA), the contract would include Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to monitor performance. It was further explained the contract was a call-off agreement, meaning payments were only made for completed work. The contract would include clauses allowing the Council to terminate the agreement in case of breaches or poor performance.

 

 

-       In relation to there being any cost as a result of the second re-tendering exercise undertaken, it was clarified that there were no additional costs beyond officer time spent redoing the tender process. The tender was revised due to a technical claim from one of the unsuccessful contractors, and following advice from strategic procurement, the tender was reissued to prevent any potential challenges.

 

Following consideration of the exempt information and exempt recommendations at item 25,

 

 

RESOLVED:

 

1. To approve the award to Tenderer A of a contract and associated expenditure for the provision of planned maintenance, repairs and testing of, and, Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICR), for domestic and communal electrical distribution systems for an initial two (2) years, plus up to three (3) annual extensions of one (1) year each (total maximum five (5) years), for a base contract value of £5,893,605.30, plus inflation subject to annual review and considerations as detailed in the Exempt part of the report, with a proposed start date of 1st February 2025, using the JCT Measured Term 2016 form of contract.

 

2. To delegate the three annual extensions of one year each, and associated contract sums to the Director responsible for Housing in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning.

 

3. To allow for the provision of a letter of intent if any works need to be undertaken prior to the formal contract being executed.

 

Reasons for decision

 

Haringey implemented 2 temporary EICR contracts in September 2022 to complete the backlog of overdue and non-compliant EICRs, which were

subsequently self-reported to the Regulator for Social Housing and committed to completing via a Voluntary Undertaking in April 2023.

 

A procurement was undertaken in October 2023 for a 2-year Contract plus 3 x 1-year extensions, although the contract was awarded to a bidder in May

2024 the award had to be revoked on the advice of the chief procurement

officer due to a challenge on the social value submission relating to the initial

contract amount at the time.

 

A new temporary direct awarded contract was therefore issued to 2

contractors for a period of 6 months commencing 1st August 2024 until 31st

January 2025 at a value of £100,000 per contractor to meet our requirement &

commitment to deliver the continued EICR programme.

 

Therefore, we had to undertake a new tender process to re-procure for a new long-term 5-year EICR contract to continue with the EICR programme.

 

The 18th Edition Wiring Regulations - IET BS7671 require landlords to

undertake regular electrical condition reports and recommend that they are

undertaken at least every 5-years, or upon new tenancies, within homes, and

communal areas.

 

Haringey has at the time of writing this report, 15,023 dwellings and 789

communal systems (15,812 total) that require periodic inspections at least

once every 5 years, (or at change of occupancy). These numbers will fluctuate

based on changes in stock and management responsibility, e.g. sales,

acquisitions, and demolition. Therefore, under this contract we require on

average to undertake 3159 inspections every year. There are also,

approximately 350 voids per year that also require testing when a new

tenancy is commenced. However, this is undertaken by the voids team and is

funded separately, through the voids budget.

 

We do not undertake EICRs in leasehold properties and there are no

leasehold implications for communal tests as the costs of each inspection, as

detailed in the Exempt part of this report, once every 5 years, is significantly

below the annual threshold for a Qualifying Long-Term Agreement.

Leaseholder contributions to costs for communal testing will be re-charged

through normal service charges and are below the S20 consultation threshold.

Any major electrical works would be consulted on separately as part of a

major works or planned programme consultation.

 

Haringey does not currently have the in-house resource capacity and

capability to deliver the required programme of EICRs alongside the level of

responsive repairs and voids work due to staff turnover. However, Haringey

will continue to deliver the electrical responsive repairs through its in-house

team and will continue to review the potential for bringing EICRs and other

works back in house as and when it can recruit the required resources.

 

Haringey needs to maintain the current programme of EICRs through external contractors under this new contract to ensure we maintain compliance with the regulations and to minimise the risk to residents, staff, and properties from electric shock and/or fire, due to properties without a valid EICR.

4.8 Valid electrical inspection condition reports enable us to demonstrate

compliance with regulatory requirements, by identifying and/or preventing

significant electrical hazards. It also supports the requirements of the building

Safety Act 2022 and The Fire Safety Act 2021, ensuring they do not contribute

to the risk and spread of fire in multi-storey, multi-occupancy rented

accommodation.

 

Alternative options considered.

 

Do nothing. This would mean that the current contract would expire, and we

would not be able to undertake the required 5 yearly testing programme.

Furthermore, it would leave the residents subject to living in buildings were

there could be electrical safety issues that go unrecorded and unremedied if we

do not undertake electrical inspections and improvement works. In addition, the Council would not be compliant with the Electrical Regulations and could be

found to be in breach of the Regulator for Social Housing’s Home Standard.

 

Extend the current contract. This is legally possible under the Council’s

constitution and Cabinet authority; however, it is not viable as this was initially

procured and awarded on a fixed term basis and has already been extended

following Cabinet approval on the basis that we would tender a longer-term

contract to replace it.

 

Undertake all the work in-house. This option is not currently viable due to the current lack of specialist skills available in the market for Haringey to recruit.

However, this is the intention in the longer-term and will be kept constantly

under review.