Choice Based Lettings

The Partnership
The Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) is committed to ensuring that social housing tenants have more control over where they live and has set the target for local authorities to have adopted choice by 2010, with £4million available until 2008 to support the development of new regional and sub-regional schemes.

Choice Based Lettings schemes assist with the building of communities that are stable, viable and inclusive. The Northern Housing Consortium is keen to see schemes developed which span local authority boundaries and which bring together all social landlords in an area to offer the widest possible housing choices for tenants and applicants.

Consortium Procurement advertised a contract notice in OJEU which detailed the procurement of an ICT partner to supply, install and maintain a Choice Based Lettings Web Based System.

The procurement was carried out using an 'Open' procedure through the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), to reflect the potential volume of spend that could conceivably be routed through the framework over its existence. The Open procedure offers the greatest transparency and access to the Invitation To Tender documentation of all the available procedures.

Abritas were the successful bidder and the OJEU Contract Award Notice for this procurement was published via the Journal in early September 2007.

Abritas will work in partnership with Consortium members to produce a Choice Based Lettings system that exactly meets their requirements. Their bespoke solution will be designed to be configurable to meet our members' exact needs and will not be constrained by the needs or limitations of any given scheme.

How to Access the Framework
Through the Choice Based Lettings Framework, Consortium members can procure the services they require without the need for any formal competition, secure in the knowledge that the Consortium has followed all necessary steps to provide an efficient, cost effective, accessible solution.

Initial and ongoing interaction with the partner will be supported by the Consortium, including the provision of contractual documentation to formalise the agreement, and regular opportunities for all parties to provide feedback and performance information. The Consortium will set up and facilitate regular User Forums if required, and use its experience of project management and issue resolution to ensure that agreements entered into by member organisations under the auspices of the framework are successfully executed.

What our Members think
" Durham sub regional choice based letting partnership are delighted to have received a positive outcome to there bid to the Department of Communities and Local Government in the recent national  CBL bidding round. The funding awarded to the partnership will assist in the implementation of Durham Key Options Choice based lettings scheme covering most of County Durham Durham  covering applications a full range of housing options across all housing tenures."

Ian Brown, Head of Housing Management, Sedgefield Borough Council

 

"The Tees Valley CBL partnership's experience of selecting an IT partner through the Consortium's procurement framework was extremely positive, given the amount of time and money we saved in committing resources to this important element of the project, meaning our efforts could be concentrated on other tasks. As members of the Consortium, the partnership was confident that the process for procuring the IT partner would be open and transparent and would allow the greatest opportunity for potential bidders to participate in the process. We are looking forward to collaborating with the Consortium in the future and in working with the IT partner, Abritas to help us develop and implement the Tees Valley Valley scheme."

Julia Kett, Sub Regional CBL Co-ordinator, Tees Valley Valley

 

" County Durham Durham CBL partnership's decision to procure through the Consortium's framework was based upon the convenience of knowing that the process they had gone through was totally robust and represented Value for Money. We are working closely with the Consortium and Abritas to ensure that we develop and implement a successful County Durham Durham scheme"

John Davidson, Assistant Director, East Durham Homes

 

For further information regarding these agreements, please contact the Business Development Team on: 0191 566 1000 or email: solutions@consortiumprocurement.org.uk