Cabinet, on 16 November 2022 (‘Social Housing Decarbonisation Bid Approval’) resolved to:

1.  Grant approval for Oxford City Council to submit a funding bid in the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) 2.1 bidding round in November 2022, seeking a government funding contribution towards a retrofit programme for around 300 council houses; and

4. Delegate authorityto the Executive Director (Communities and People) in consultation with the Head of Financial Services / Section 151 Officer to spend the HRA funds together with SHDF grant funding for the purposes of the proposed retrofit scheme, including entering into contracts with contractors to deliver the works.

Council, on 28 November 2022, resolved to:

1.  If the bid is successful, grant approval for the release of up to £6.050 million of HRA capital funding required for match funding under the terms of the SHDF 2.1 scheme in accordance with the spend profile in paragraph 24 of the report.

Council, on 16 February 2023, allocated the budget to Energy Efficiency projects in the capital programme 2023-24 and 2026-27.

To award a JCT Measured Terms (works) contract to Oxford Direct Services Limited (ODS) to deliver Energy Efficiency works for circa 100 City Council HRA properties as part of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 2.1.  The estimated value for this specific contract of circa 100 properties is £2.7M.

The decision awards a JCT Measured term (works) contract to ODS to retrofit circa 100 City Council HRA properties as part of the SHDF wave 2.1 project.  As ODS is a wholly owned company of the Council and is Teckal compliant, the work can be awarded to them directly under procurement law.

A separate contract for 200 City Council HRA properties was awarded to Vinci Construction UK limited through a competitive tender process. Tenderers were given information regarding award of 100 properties to ODS at tender stage.

Both contracts are let under the same JCT Measured Terms (works).  Each contractor – ODS and Vinci - is responsible for end-to-end delivery of the retrofit works for their allotted properties.

Award to ODS was set out in the Council’s SHDF 2.1 bid, and the processes set out in the Constitution were followed during their evaluation.

ODS prices for the first batch of properties have been reviewed and are within 6% of those estimated in the SHDF bid and within 3% of the equivalent first batch pricing by Vinci. With the added social value ODS delivers, this brings them in line. The contract administrator (Bailey Garner) will monitor costs and ensure delivery of the project objectives on time and to budget.

The decision follows the approach proposed in the Council’s SHDF wave 2.1 bid. Mobilisation has already commenced and to take another course of action now would be difficult.  The only other option left to the Council would be to procure the 100 properties via a full tender which would delay the project and risk losing the SHDF funding allocated to this proportion of properties.  This option has therefore been rejected.

Decision taken by Peter Matthew, Interim Executive Director (Communities and People) in consultation with Nigel Kennedy, Head of Financial Services and Emma Jackman, Head of Law and Governance.