Agenda item

To award a contract to undertake the Composite Door Programme to various properties within the North of the housing stock owned by Sandwell Council.

Approval was sought to award the contract to undertake the Composite Door Programme to various properties within the North of the housing stock owned by the Council to Sycamore Windows Limited for a contract period of two years, from November 2021 to October 2023, to a value of £10 million (£5 million per annum).

The delivery of this programme would include both planned programmes of door replacement as well as reactive maintenance where existing doors fail or are not fit for purpose.

In response to questions raised by the Chair of the Economy, Skills, Transport and Environment Scrutiny Board, the Cabinet Member for Housing confirmed that Councillors would be provided with the timetable for the door replacement programme in the next few weeks. For Council homes that were part of existing planned programme of works, replacement of doors was included. For homes not covered by planned programmes, doors were to be replaced according to a prioritised schedule that was separate to the planned programme.

Reasons for Decision

In accordance with the Council’s Procurement and Contract Procedure Rules (Rule 15) an exemption from any rule for a contract above £250,000 must be approved by Cabinet.

Since Cabinet awarded these works within the North of the Borough at its Cabinet meeting of 17 March 2021, both the appointed contractor Lovell Partnerships Limited and the third-place contractor had formally withdrawn their bids owing to not being able to hold their bids at their prices as tendered, leaving the fourth placed contractor as being the most economically advantageous tender submitted for the North.

The second placed contractor had already been awarded the contract to undertake composite door replacements within the South of the Borough and therefore could not be considered, as Contractors were afforded the opportunity of applying for one or both contract areas but would only be awarded one contract.

The award of the works contract to the fourth placed bidder, Sycamore Window Limited, was deemed to provide value for money and was still within the original budget allocation for these works.

Alternative Options

An option existed to re-procure the works within the North of the Borough. It was felt, however, that owing to the current uncertainty around material prices within the industry, the tender of Sycamore Windows Limited provided the best value option and outweighed the cost of re-tendering and the risk of receiving higher bids. If the Council was to re-procure, alternative doors might have to be evaluated and there would be the possibility of costs being higher now due to the unstable market.

It was not possible to award the works within the North of the Borough to Nationwide Windows Limited, who were the Contractor appointed to deliver these works in the South of the Borough as Contractors were afforded the opportunity of applying for one or both contract areas but could only be awarded one contract.

Another option was to continue to undertake the replacement of Composite Doors within the North via the Contractor currently delivering an External Refurbishment programme within the same area. This was not a viable option owing to the cost of the doors via this route being 50% higher.

The last option was to not invest in our Council Housing Stock which in turn might lead to dissatisfaction from existing and potential new tenants as well as disrepair and additional burden on the Housing Revenue Account.

Agreed:-

(1)     that approval be given to award a contract to undertake the Composite Door Programme to various properties within the North of the housing stock owned by Sandwell Council to Sycamore Windows Limited for a contract period of two years, from November 2021 to October 2023 to a value of £5 million per annum;

(2)     that the Director of Law and Governance and Monitoring Officer be authorised to enter into appropriate contract with Sycamore Windows Limited.