Housing Benefit and Procurement
As commissioner's we are seeking to re-procure a Support Living provision, on this recommission we are being advised that we may need to include housing benefit within the tender value, as it is a concession contracts as the provider will be recouping money they have outlaid. We have not experienced this before, as from our understanding HB for supported housing is calculated in terms of the core rent for the area and a detailed breakdown of the proposed service charges, which is unique according to post code and accommdation size. Has anyone experienced this recently?
Not exactly what you are suggesting but I have seen tenders where while the tender value was only for the commissioned support service (which is all that was specified in the tender docs), the evaluation takes account of all of the full cost of the service, including the housing elements. This makes some sense in public procurement terms, it is assessing the full cost to the public purse, possibly also considering any contribution paid by residents. This mitigates against an organisation putting in a very low price for the support service and attempting to recoup by maximising rent/service charge income.