At the CIPFA Innovation Awards held on 25 April we were thrilled that, together with our client Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council and their contractor Mears, we won the Award for Alternative Service Delivery Model of the Year! This was for the open book accounting model that we introduced which, following a lot of hard work, has resulted in over £3m of savings to date – very significant in public sector housing.

 The judges’ comment in the Winners Guide was as follows:

 “This was an excellent example of taking a problem, being honest about the challenges, and committing to finding a way forward. Sharing both the gains and the pains has been effective and open book arrangements are working actively”

 This was particularly special as the finalists were drawn from across the public sector from the whole of the UK.

A partnership between Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council, Mears and Stradia has been shortlisted for a CIPFA ‘Alternative Service Delivery Model of the Year’ Award. The winner will be announced at the Public Finance Innovation Awards dinner to take place at The Brewery in the heart of London on 25 April 2018.

Stradia was appointed in the spring of 2017 to act as procurement consultant to work with Unity Housing, a specialist BME housing provider, to re-procure the provision of planned and responsive maintenance services to their housing stock for a period of five years from April 2018 – March 2023. The agreement also includes an option to extend the contract for a further two years subject to satisfactory performance by the Contractor. Following a fully compliant OJEU procurement process, which attracted interest from both local and national contractors, the successful contractor was confirmed as local firm GTD Painting and Property Maintenance of Sandleas Way, Leeds LS7 3HY.

The value of the contract is approximately £1m. per year, and following the success of the previous contract, also procured by Stradia, the work has again been let as a Term Maintenance contract, including a Partnering Agreement, using Option 1 of Stradia’s Public Sector Partnering Contract (PSPC) (second edition).

The successful procurement of this work marks the latest milestone in a long term relationship between Unity and Stradia under which Stradia have provided advice and assistance to Unity in the procurement of both housing maintenance and repair services, and also redevelopment and renovation of parts of Unity’s commercial estate.