The Cirrus Consortium (The Consortium) is a procurement consortium for contracting authorities across England, Wales and Scotland. The Consortium is managed on behalf of the Membership by Cirrus Purchasing Ltd, a specialist purchasing and supply consultancy supporting the social housing, public and private sectors. The Consortium currently consists of over 50 members including Registered Providers of Social Housing, Local Authorities, ALMOs and NHS Trusts, with additional organisations joining the consortium on a regular basis. As contracting authorities access the frameworks available from the Consortium, they are allowed Membership to the Consortium, giving them active input into the Central Purchasing Body. The lead contracting authority for this framework is First Ark Group.

This tender was undertaken as an open procedure, as detailed in Regulation 15 of the UK statutory instrument Public Contracts Regulations 2006/5. The Invitation to Tender (ITT) set out the information which was required by The Consortium in order to assess the suitability of contractors in terms of their ability to deliver the requirements of the framework to members.

The Consortium sought to establish a new framework of multiple contractors for repairs and maintenance services to cover the following geographic areas (codes in brackets represent EU NUTS codes):

— Lot 1: North East (UKC),

— Lot 2: North West (UKD),

— Lot 3: Yorkshire and the Humber (UKE),

— Lot 4: East Midlands (UKF),

— Lot 5: West Midlands (UKG),

— Lot 6: East of England (UKH),

— Lot 7: London (UKI),

— Lot 8: South East (UKJ),

— Lot 9: South West (UKK),

— Lot 10: Wales (UKL),

— Lot 11: Scotland (UKM).

Successful bidders are required to provide a range of services for The Consortium including but not limited to:

— day to day responsive repairs and maintenance,

— minor works,

— voids repairs and maintenance,

— adaptations,

— out of hours repairs services.

Some mechanical & electrical services and facilities management services may also be required to be delivered under this framework including, but not limited to; door entry system repairs and maintenance, CCTV repairs and maintenance and fire and intruder alarm testing and servicing. Individual bidders are not required to provide all services under this framework. It is intended that contracting authorities may use successful contractors in a number of ways, including as main contractors or as sub contractors to supplement and support existing contractor arrangements.

The framework is available for use by all contracting authorities (as defined by Regulation 19 of the UK statutory instrument Public Contracts Regulations 2006/5), but particularly Registered Providers of Social Housing within England and Wales (as defined by the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008), Registered Social Landlords within Scotland [as defined by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010], NHS Trusts and local authorities across the UK. The framework is also available for use by all current and future members of the Cirrus Consortium.

The framework agreement is 4 years in duration from the commencement date. The framework commenced during May 2015.

The estimated value over the framework period is anticipated to be up to 119 000 000 GBP excluding VAT. However this is an estimate only and the potential maximum value could significantly exceed this value. This is for information only, and no guarantees are given, nor are implied as to the value of business that will be placed with successful bidders participating in the framework agreement. Award of a place on this framework to any contractor does not guarantee any contracts will be awarded to that contractor.