Issue - meetings

Background:

This report provided a review of the progress of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) repairs and maintenance contract currently delivered through the supplier Mears Group Plc and was set out at paragraph 5.1 to the report.

The report noted that the current contract had been in operation since the 1 September 2014. It was initially awarded for a five-year period and included a 5 year extension period, subject to satisfactory performance and agreement of both parties.

The Procurement Board considered this report on 4 July 2018 and supported the recommendations set out in the report.

An Exempt Appendix provided details of the financial analysis in respect of procurement of this service.

Reasons:

Approval of the contract extension would provide value for money for the Council.

Excellent performance continues when benchmarked with other similar sized housing organisations. 

The Housing Management Team complete quarterly benchmarking with Housemark and comparisons to similar organisations with a stock size of 1,000 to 5,000 properties.

At the end of the last quarter, performance was in the top quartile for the following areas:

·         Percentage of rent lost through dwellings being vacant

·         Average re-let time in days (standard re-lets)

·         Percentage of units re-let during the period

·         Percentage of repairs completed at first visit

·         Appointments kept as a percentage of appointments made

·         Satisfaction with repairs.

At year end for 2016/17 performance was in the top quartile for the following areas:

·         Percentage of calls answered

·         Percentage of rent lost through dwellings being vacant 

·         Average re-let time in days (standard re-lets)

·         Average re-let time in days (major works units, including time spent in works)

·         Average re-let time in days (all re-lets, including time spent in works)

·         Percentage of properties vacant and available to let

·         Percentage of repairs completed at first visit

·         Satisfaction with repairs service.

The Council has a statutory duty as a stock retained authority to maintain its stock in a safe and repaired condition.