When the Audit Commission inspected St Vincent’s Housing Association back in 2005 it criticised the association for not picking up on the advantages of modern procurement methods including partnering. Since then, St Vincent’s has turned around its repairs and investment procurement through its membership of PfA.
St Vincent’s is one of six housing associations that have jointly procured their gas servicing through PfA bringing economies of scale not possible for individual associations. St Vincent’s calculates an estimated cashable efficiency saving of around 10% on contract costs alone.
Other savings accrue from shared procurement costs and reduced contract administration. As Andy Lines, Asset Manager for St Vincent’s, said, “asset management is our biggest and most costly activity. Working with PfA across a number of contracts has enabled me to redeploy one of my staff away from procurement and routine contract supervision to more profitable work.”
Gas servicing contracts can be something of a minefield with the EU procurement rules, an absolute need for quality control and stringent health and safety requirements. PfA has helped by bringing a shared expertise to bear and creating a network of advice and support for its members.
By moving from a number of short term contracts to a single long term partnering contract, St Vincent’s has been able to change the basis of its service. A single fixed fee for both service inspection and any resulting repairs means that costs are more predictable and longer term planning easier.
Tenants like the new service too and this is evidenced by improved customer satisfaction figures. Performance is managed through agreed performance indicators and these are reviewed each year to ensure continuous improvement. A reliable appointment system is in place, and there is a new emphasis on a first time fix with gas engineers empowered carry out repairs as they find them.
The procurement process has been comprehensive and rigorous. By pooling their experience and knowledge, partners are able to bring a greater expertise to bear. Involving tenants from different associations meant that they were also able to combine their experience as customers and help beef up the specification.
Another advantage of PfA is that it provides for shared learning from growing experience as contracts mature. Andy Lines feels that this will keep on bringing benefits, “I am very confident about the future. We have already shown that we are learning from each other and I think we can all benefit from this as future contracts and partnering arrangements are improved.”