Purpose

The Council has statutory duties to
accommodate some groups of homeless people under S188 Housing Act
1996 in temporary accommodation.
 
The Council is experiencing high demand for
homelessness services and has insufficient capacity to accommodate
homeless people within the existing arrangements.
 
There is a limited supply of suitable
accommodation to meet the Council’s statutory duties which
can be made available to the Council from local providers. Suitable
additional temporary accommodation was sourced at Ipswich Best
Western hotel in Copdock on a 12-week
contract. This period was extended by a further 12 weeks to meet
exceptional temporary accommodation provision.
 
There is a continued high demand for temporary
accommodation and a lack of providers of this type of accommodation
for homeless households.

Decision

To waive the market testing requirement of
Contract Standing Orders under paragraph 3.10.2 due to the urgency
and the lack of providers of this type of accommodation for
homeless households.
 
To award a contract extension to Cameron
Adventures, Ipswich Best Western hotel in Copdock, to provide accommodation from 17th October
2024 to 31st March 2025 at a total cost of £88,810.
 
Reason:
To exempt from the requirements within
Contract Standing Orders to undertake a competitive tendering
process and directly award a contract is necessary as a matter of
urgency and a delay would be likely to lead to an inability to
provide a statutory service.