Purpose

Watford Council owns 28 self-contained properties and 4 hostels (providing 12 hostel rooms in total), all of which are currently used as temporary accommodation.

The day-to-day management of these properties has been contracted out since the stock transfer in 2007, when tenancy management, repairs, rent collection staff, and associated capacity transferred to the new housing association.

The current management contract expires on 31/09/26. An open tender process has now been completed or a new contract. This report summarises the outcome of the procurement exercise and seeks approval to award the contract to the successful bidder.

Decision

The Associate Director of Housing and Wellbeing is minded to award the contract to Watford Community Housing subject to procurement procedures.

Alternative options considered

Option 1 – Approve the award of the contract to the successful bidder (Recommended)


Option 2 – Do not approve the contract award
If the contract is not awarded, the existing contract cannot be extended and the Council does not have the in-house capacity to deliver the required management service. This would leave the Council without a management arrangement in place for these properties, creating operational and service delivery risks.