East of England Accommodation Services Tenders & Contracts

Direct Award under PA23 to provide 69 nightly let accommodation units at the Paragon House, Chelmsford, site under an initial three-year term, with the option to extend for up to two further periods of 12 months each. Of the 69 units, 26 are located on the ground floor and offer fully accessible accommodation, including level-access shower facilities. The accommodation will be provided and managed by an external housing provider, ensuring the continued availability of high-quality temporary accommodation to support the Council's housing obligations.

*Republication due to error surrounding the contract signature date on the previous notice. Contract signature date previously read 27th October but contract signature can only occur from 28th October due to the standstill period* This contract will provide for the supply of 69 nightly let accommodation units at the Paragon House site under an initial three-year term, with the option to extend for up to two further periods of 12 months each. Of the 69 units, 26 are located on the ground floor and offer fully accessible accommodation, including level-access shower facilities. The accommodation will be provided and managed by an external housing provider, ensuring the continued availability of high-quality temporary accommodation to support the Council's housing obligations.

This contract will provide for the supply of 69 nightly let accommodation units at the Paragon House site under an initial three-year term, with the option to extend for up to two further periods of 12 months each. Of the 69 units, 26 are located on the ground floor and offer fully accessible accommodation, including level-access shower facilities. The accommodation will be provided and managed by an external housing provider, ensuring the continued availability of high-quality temporary accommodation to support the Council's housing obligations.

Spot purchase private Transitional accommodation on a day to day basis in line with statutory homeless duties during pressure points

Waiver - Product Reasons - The provision of rough sleeping prevention services

Waiver - Contract Reasons - Rough sleeping emergency night beds The emergency night beds provision delivers a critical rough sleeping response across the borough, ensuring people identified as rough sleeping, and therefore at the highest risk of homelessness harm, are provided with an overnight offthe- street bed space, whilst holistic, wraparound support is provided by SMART in partnership with BBC statutory housing support.

Waiver - Product Reasons - This waiver request is to extend the current contract provision from 1st April 2026 - 30th September 2026 to allow time for internal review of the business case & associated actions to be carried out. The request is to extend the current provider, SMART CJS, to ensure continuity of the service and therefore meeting grant conditions.

Waiver - Contract Reasons - This waiver is requested to continue the the provision of support at Rogers Court on a spot purchase bases. The support contract is currently out as an open tender process to begin on 1st July 2026, and this waiver requests spot purchasing the current supplier to continue the provision during this period of time, until the new contract is implemented. The service comprises of 20 units of supported accommodation for former rough sleepers with high-risk complex needs,. 24/7 support provided by SMART to assist people resident to achieve their goals with the aim of independent living or other move on options based on the need of the residents. Use recognised support tools and techniques. The service has been operating since mid-2021 with SMART as the supplier.

Watford Community Housing (WCH) currently manages all of the Council’s temporary accommodation sites The Council considers that no reasonable alternative supplier exists at this time for the following reasons: •Due to the indivisible nature of our service structure and the difficulty of lotting, competition is not practically feasible. •Public benefit in our service design reflects operational reality of statutory housing delivery. Furthermore, the service relies on a unified operational model covering property access, tenant management, safeguarding oversight, compliance monitoring, and rapid response to risk across the entire temporary accommodation estate. •Service integrity would be compromised by the separation of technical and operational indivisibility therefore unified accountability is necessary for compliance and maintaining integrity. •The proposed supplier, Watford Community Housing (WCH) has operational expertise of the Council's temporary accommodation portfolio, including property-specific hazards, household vulnerabilities, escalation procedures, and safeguarding controls. •Only one supplier capable within required timeframe with the operational knowledge that cannot be replicated without delay •This knowledge is essential for the secure and lawful functioning of the service and cannot be duplicated or transmitted within the necessary timeframe without subjecting the Council to significant risk. •Extreme and unavoidable urgency – The risk of delay exceeds the benefits of competition and the Council’s statutory duties under the Housing Act 1996 compliance risk. •Introducing a second provider to oversee a portion of the portfolio would result in fragmented service delivery, necessitating parallel operational models, redundant interfaces, and split accountability. Furthermore, any fragmentation would materially reduce the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements, compromise the Council’s ability to exercise oversight, and diminish operational flexibility in responding to urgent placements, incidents, or emerging risks. •The duration of mobilisation is incompatible with maintaining continuity. It would be necessary to transfer sensitive home data, make arrangements for property access, and take on active case management duties in order to mobilise a new provider into a live safeguarding service. This has the potential to introduce an unacceptable level of risk, including the potential for service failure, safeguarding breaches, and non-compliance with statutory duties under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996. Under these conditions, the designation of an alternate provider or the lotting of the service among several providers is not reasonably feasible without compromising the continuity of service delivery and safeguarding outcomes. The proposed direct award is therefore necessary and proportionate to ensure the safe, continuous, and lawful delivery of temporary accommodation management services.

Watford Community Housing (WCH) currently manages all of the Council’s temporary accommodation sites The Council considers that no reasonable alternative supplier exists at this time for the following reasons: •Due to the indivisible nature of our service structure and the difficulty of lotting, competition is not practically feasible. •Public benefit in our service design reflects operational reality of statutory housing delivery. Furthermore, the service relies on a unified operational model covering property access, tenant management, safeguarding oversight, compliance monitoring, and rapid response to risk across the entire temporary accommodation estate. •Service integrity would be compromised by the separation of technical and operational indivisibility therefore unified accountability is necessary for compliance and maintaining integrity. •The proposed supplier, Watford Community Housing (WCH) has operational expertise of the Council's temporary accommodation portfolio, including property-specific hazards, household vulnerabilities, escalation procedures, and safeguarding controls. •Only one supplier capable within required timeframe with the operational knowledge that cannot be replicated without delay •This knowledge is essential for the secure and lawful functioning of the service and cannot be duplicated or transmitted within the necessary timeframe without subjecting the Council to significant risk. •Extreme and unavoidable urgency – The risk of delay exceeds the benefits of competition and the Council’s statutory duties under the Housing Act 1996 compliance risk. •Introducing a second provider to oversee a portion of the portfolio would result in fragmented service delivery, necessitating parallel operational models, redundant interfaces, and split accountability. Furthermore, any fragmentation would materially reduce the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements, compromise the Council’s ability to exercise oversight, and diminish operational flexibility in responding to urgent placements, incidents, or emerging risks. •The duration of mobilisation is incompatible with maintaining continuity. It would be necessary to transfer sensitive home data, make arrangements for property access, and take on active case management duties in order to mobilise a new provider into a live safeguarding service. This has the potential to introduce an unacceptable level of risk, including the potential for service failure, safeguarding breaches, and non-compliance with statutory duties under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996. Under these conditions, the designation of an alternate provider or the lotting of the service among several providers is not reasonably feasible without compromising the continuity of service delivery and safeguarding outcomes. The proposed direct award is therefore necessary and proportionate to ensure the safe, continuous, and lawful delivery of temporary accommodation management services.

Sanctuary Housing - Annual Drawdown POs for Accommodation 26/27 Tenancy Agreements

Waiver - Product Reasons - Family and Single Homelessness Rehousing Support Service - The existing agreement started in July 2024 for 1 year and was further extended until 31st March 2026. The initial target group was for large families as these are the most challenging to find rehousing solutions. Within the first year of the contract, Beam supported more than 50 households, and successfully rehoused 8 families into the private rented sector. Following a review with the provider, our housing team improved referrals which improved outcomes and Beam's involvement with customers.

Sanctuary Housing - Annual Drawdown POs for Accommodation 26/27 Tenancy Agreements

Sanctuary Housing - Annual Drawdown POs for Accommodation 26/27 Tenancy Agreements

Waiver - Contract Reasons - Homeless Family Rehousing Support - The existing contract with Beam has demonstrated positive outcomes and cost saving in Temporary Accommodation, with assurance of 5 further rehousing options during this proposed contract extension period. If the model continues into 2026-27 then the aim would be to run an open tender process, however in the meantime the continuation of this existing provision until the end of this year allows for additional rehousing solutions immediately, positively impacting on temporary accommodation & associated budget pressures.