Decision Maker: Cabinet Procurement and Insourcing Committee

Outcome: For Determination

Is Key Decision?: Yes

Is Callable In?: Yes

Date of Decision: September 2, 2024

Purpose:

Content: RESOLVED:   To award a contract for the provision of a fully integrated housing management solution to Supplier A using the Crown Commercial Service Vertical Application Solutions Framework (RM6259) for a period of 5 + 5 years at a total cost of £3.4m.   Reason(s) For Decision   1.  In 2020 London Borough of Hackney (LBH) was the target of a cyber attack which saw major disruption to key systems and left many unavailable for Council staff to deliver essential services – with years of painstaking work to safely recover them at a basic level. 2.  Prior to the cyber attack the main system being used in Housing Services was Universal Housing (Civica), however this was an old system that was not going to be supported from 2022. Given the ongoing support issue, and the strategic decision to follow a ‘build’ rather than ‘buy’ strategy for the housing ICT platform, the Council was already working on developing its own housing solution “Modern Tools for Housing” (MTFH). Both Universal Housing and the work to develop MTFH was lost in the cyber attack, requiring the service to operate with workaround arrangements to sustain service delivery. 3.  Over three years on, whilst work to rebuild MTFH has progressed, the issues presented are still acute despite the best efforts of Housing teams and our colleagues in ICT. Processes remain unrefined and subject to a myriad of workarounds, in some key areas there is still no functional ICT solution, data is hard to collate and interrogate, turn-around times for basic services are slower than they ideally would be and staff find it difficult to manage day-to-day tasks without the support of a robust and fully integrated system. 4.  All of this coupled with increasing regulatory requirements means that there is a critical need to ensure adequate and appropriate IT provisions across the board that enable staff to deliver services effectively and to expected standards. 5.  The quickest and most cost effective route to a fully integrated Housing system that addresses the above issues is the purchase of a tried and tested configurable housing system provided by a market leading supplier.   Alternative Options (Considered and Rejected)   1.  Continue with existing workarounds This option is not viable as the current workarounds are not fit for purpose, lead to a number of poor outcomes for residents and staff, and can not be used to adequately meet regulatory requirements.   2.  Develop a Housing Management System internally The current build programme is not able to give any cost and timescale parameters around this option, making it uncertain as to whether we can deliver within required timescale and budget. Recent experience has also shown that the functionality provided is costly to develop and significantly limited when compared to off the shelf solutions.   Without a functional IHMS we severely hinder our ability to deliver good quality housing services and run the risk of breaching our obligations under new housing regulations.