Agenda item

To vary existing contracts with three suppliers for the continued delivery of fire safety works, pending the implementation of a long-term contract to be procured.

In order for the council to meet its statutory obligation under the Fire Safety Order (as amended) 2005, the Building Safety Act 2022, and the Fire Safety Act 2021 as well as the requirements of the Housing Acts 1994,2004 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, the council needs to undertake fire safety works in residential buildings, as identified through fire risk assessments, to comply with current regulations to ensure the safety of those living and visiting them.

The Cabinet Member RESOLVED

For the Cabinet Member for Housing & Planning and Deputy Leader, pursuant to Contract Standing Orders 18.03.3 & 2.01(d) to approve variation of contracts to three suppliers as per the table below

Each of the 3 existing contracts are to be varied by 167% due to the urgent need for continued delivery of works by existing contractors, following unavoidable delays in procuring a longer-term contract.

Reasons for decision

It was essential to maintain continuity to complete actions from the fire risk assessments, as stopping this for any period, will increase the number of actions, as we continue to carry out fire risk assessments in accordance with our statutory obligations and will further increase risk of them becoming overdue and putting resident safety at risk.

The Council aimed to ensure that fire risk assessment actions were completed in a timely manner in line with our policy objectives for Fire & Building Safety. Varying these contracts would enable actions to continue to be completed whilst procurement of a long-term contract is undertaken, that would support and compliment delivery of actions by in-house teams.

External contractors were essential to this delivery programme due to the flexibility and amount of resource required as well as the level of skill and certification required to demonstrate competency.

The variation would also ensure that remediation works could be delivered at the existing rates agreed with the contractors, during the original procurement in 2024/25. As market rates will undoubtedly have increased since this time, this helped to ensure value for money through these variations.

Haringey had also given a commitment to the regulator For Social Housing to reduce high-risk overdue actions and to ensure they are completed in a timely manner. Failure to vary the current contracts would put that commitment at risk of failure.

Alternative options considered

Do nothing: 

This option had been rejected because this would mean an accumulation of actions from the fire risk assessment remain unallocated without an appropriate facility to complete works in a compliant manner, at the required scale to meet the overarching strategic objectives, to reduce actions and meet our commitments to the Regulator for Social Housing.

Utilise the DLO to deliver works:

This option had been rejected as the DLO is already under significant pressure to deliver the Responsive Repairs Service. This option is not a viable proposition for the either the short or medium to long term planning of the Council, due to the lack of competencies and resources to meet the required standards.

Procure new contracts without first varying existing contracts:

This option was being progressed but the variation under this report allows sufficient time to complete the procurement. However, it is not possible to maintain delivery if existing contracts are not varied and we rely wholly on a new contract being put in place.

Utilise an external framework to make a direct award to a separate contractor:

This option had been rejected by our Strategic Procurement due to the need to maintain internal control over the procurement process.