Mel Gallagher, one of our involved residents recently shared her experience with us about being involved in the recent Contract Evaluation Process for one of our suppliers in our major works investment programme.
Every year, we have a major works investment programme to refurbish and upgrade our homes and blocks, decarbonising more properties to help reduce energy bills for our residents.
As part of the process we invite potential contractors to bid on an Invite to Tender (ITT). An Invite to Tender (ITT) is a formal document inviting contractors to bid on providing the works. Staff and trained residents then evaluate the contractors' bids, with Mel included in part of this process.
Mel said: “I was invited and accepted an invitation to take part in a process called ‘tender applications and moderations’ by the Resident Involvement team at PCH. This is something I have never done before and being the type of person open to new experiences and eager to fill my brain with new knowledge I readily, and eagerly, accepted.
“What is ‘tender applications and moderations’ I hear some of you ask? Well, let me explain. When an organisation such as PCH has a large amount of works to be done for which they deem it necessary to contract the services of an outside organisation (such as a building firm), they request interested organisations to submit a “tender application” based upon specific questions and criteria they are looking for.
“Once those applications are submitted, the organisation requesting the applications must rank them according to a standardised system of doing so. Each participant will score the applications privately and then they come together in a process called “moderation” where they must come to an agreement between themselves on what is the best score for that application. All must agree – a consensus must be reached.
“Before the moderation, I was invited to a training meeting and my first impression was an anxious thought of: how on earth do I do this? Well, a phone call later to some helpful and supportive PCH colleagues and away I went reading, comparing, researching terminology at times, note-making and scoring.
“Before long came the moderation meeting and I arrived at Plumer House in plenty of time and eagerly, but with some trepidation due to not knowing what to expect, sat down with my PCH colleagues on this task, to begin debating and asserting my case for my score.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect from this process – I am, after all, “simply” an involved resident. Why should my experienced and learned colleagues on this task listen to my views? However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only were my views respected and listened to, but the overall process of moderation was a great deal of fun, with plenty of laughs and good-natured ribbing across the board.
“I left that meeting, which signalled an end of my personal participation, with a smile on my face and a boost to my confidence, secure in the knowledge that inner-me had been right after all in volunteering for this task. I had learned a great deal, had a lot of fun doing so and helped my housing provider to come to a consensus on these tender applications, thereby making a real difference in whom would be working in my fellow-residents’ homes.
“Shortly afterward, I was again invited to take part in another tender application and moderation process and this time, without any hesitation, I eagerly agreed.”
Click here for more information about the works that we are going to be carrying out this year and for the latest quarterly update.
