Metropolitan Housing Trust Ltd: 2022-2023-075: Service Charge Audit

UK-London: Auditing services.
Section I: Contracting Authority
      I.1) Name and addresses
             METROPOLITAN THAMES VALLEY HOUSING
             The Grange, 100 High Street, Southgate, London, N14 6PW, United Kingdom
             Tel. +44 7701388562, Email: adam.bevan@mtvh.co.uk
             Main Address: https://www.mtvh.co.uk/, Address of the buyer profile: WWW.MTVH.CO.UK
             NUTS Code: UKI
      I.2) Joint procurement
      The contract involves joint procurement: No.
      In the case of joint procurement involving different countries, state applicable national procurement law: Not provided       
      The contract is awarded by a central purchasing body: Yes.
      I.3) Communication
      The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at: www.delta-esourcing.co.uk
      Additional information can be obtained from: the abovementioned address
      Tenders or requests to participate must be sent to the abovementioned address       
      Electronic communication requires the use of tools and devices that are not generally available. Unrestricted and full direct access to these tools and devices is possible, free of charge, at: Not provided
      I.4) Type of the contracting authority
            Body governed by public law
      I.5) Main activity
            Housing and community amenities

Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
      II.1.1) Title: 2022-2023-075: Service Charge Audit       
      Reference Number: Not provided
      II.1.2) Main CPV Code:
      79212000 - Auditing services.

      II.1.3) Type of contract: SERVICES
      II.1.4) Short description: MTVH is seeking a Service Charge Audit partner to provide the below audit services to our home ownership and service charge (HO & SC) team on a 3-year (+1, +1 year) contract term.

This team is responsible for calculating the reconciliation of service charge accounts for homeowners, by way of analysing the costs attributable to the blocks and schemes within their patch. The officers will approve invoices and budget costs eligible to be charged back to residents when reviewed on the system. These costs vary from bulk and individual invoices, budget costs from other service areas and Managing agent service charge demands. A review of section 20 consultation compliance for service contracts is also undertaken. Another part of this aspect of reconciliation is to ensure compliance with the lease covenants for service charging including apportionments and sinking fund contributions.       
      II.1.5) Estimated total value:
      Value excluding VAT: 900,000       
      Currency: GBP
      II.1.6) Information about lots:
      This contract is divided into lots: No       
   
II.2) Description
      
      II.2.2) Additional CPV codes:
      79212000 - Auditing services.
      79212300 - Statutory audit services.
      
      II.2.3) Place of performance:
      UKJ SOUTH EAST (ENGLAND)
      
      II.2.4) Description of procurement: Scope of Services
The successful provider will support the HO & SC team in the following:
1.Reviewing a sample of leases to ensure that lease percentages and apportionments are applied and that costs recovered are allowable as per the lease.
2.Carry out and update our review of controls and systems, that are in place for the generation of service charge actual accounts and assess the adequacy of the controls.
3.To perform an analytical review between the prior year, estimates and actual costs included within the statements to identify significant variances and ensure movements are consistent with our findings.
4.Substantive testing of expenditure to supporting documentation to check that costs relate to communal service charges and have been charged to the correct scheme.
5.A review of management judgements made, on the costs charged to blocks/schemes/estates including accruals.
6.Agree the previous year’s surplus or deficits have been correctly treated within the year.
7.Agree the sinking fund balances and charges made to the statements are adequately recognised in the nominal ledger and interest has been correctly applied per the lease and legislation requirements.
8.Agree on income charges to contribution schedules and confirm the appropriate properties have been included.
9.Review compliance with the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 for consultation on S20A major works and long-term contract notices are appropriately in place, as well as S.20B for the recovery of costs within the specific time limit.
10.Performing casting checks on statements for accuracy.
11.Provide the certification of the final accounts audit that can be issued to residents.
12.Recognise an upward pipeline of homeownership stock and service charge accounts to audit.
All the reviews must be completed by the end of August each year for those units with a 31 March year end and by 31 May for those units with a 31 December year end.




Account Management
-Main point of contact for the duration of the audit
-Level of seniority on the account to be a senior as the main lead
-Availability of support to be for the whole duration of the audit until sign off
-Technology to be compliant with GDPR and supported by a shared platform and carefully monitored with clear cascade of IT support where any failures occur.
-Innovation sharing desirable, where updates on process improvements, best practices and lessons learned are shared following each audit.
-Temporary point of contact to lead audit in the absence of Main lead of audit

Service Level Agreements
-Quick response times in line with 48 hours for queries, 72 hours for data quality queries.
-Timetable agreed prior to the start of any audit
-Resource of audit team to be confirmed for duration of the audit
-Ratio of resources of audit team to number of accounts to be agreed
-Quality of audit to hit agreed KPIs
-Interim progress reports to be provided, including action plans for slippage on progress reports
-Understand the provisions of Sections 18 to 30 of 1985 LTA and 151 CLARA
-To 100% fully test an agreed minimum number of schemes

Key Performance indicators
-Accuracy of testing invoices
-Be able to review all Section 20 Notices effectively and understand appropriate application
-Achieve agreed Key Target dates throughout the audit
-Review integrity of accounts for those agreed schemes during the audit and report back
-Final reporting of audit to include recommendations
      II.2.5) Award criteria:
            Criteria below
            Quality criterion - Name: Technical / Weighting: 65
            Quality criterion - Name: Social Value / Weighting: 10
                        
            Cost criterion - Name: Cost / Weighting: 25
                              
      II.2.6) Estimated value:
      Value excluding VAT: Not provided       
      Currency: Not provided       
      II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system:
      Start: 01/05/2023 / End: 30/04/2026       
      This contract is subject to renewal: Yes       
      Description of renewals: 3 year initial term, with a possible 2 years extension (1 year + 1 year).
      
      II.2.10) Information about variants:
      Variants will be accepted: No
      II.2.11) Information about options:
      Options:       No             
      Description of options: Not provided
      II.2.12) Information about electronic catalogues:
      Tenders must be presented in the form of electronic catalogues or include an electronic catalogue: No
      II.2.13) Information about European Union funds:
      The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No       
      Identification of the project: Not provided             
      II.2.14) Additional information: Not provided       


Section III: Legal, Economic, Financial And Technical Information
   III.1) Conditions for participation
      III.1.1) Suitability to pursue the professional activity, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers
      List and brief description of conditions:          
      Not Provided       
      III.1.2) Economic and financial standing          
      Selection criteria as stated in the procurement documents       
      List and brief description of selection criteria:       
      Not Provided    
      Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required (if applicable) :       
      Not Provided    
      III.1.3) Technical and professional ability    
      Selection criteria as stated in the procurement documents
      List and brief description of selection criteria:       
      Not Provided      
      Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required (if applicable) :          
      Not Provided   
      III.1.5) Information about reserved contracts (if applicable)   
      The contract is reserved to sheltered workshops and economic operators aiming at the social and professional integration of disabled or disadvantaged persons: No       
      The execution of the contract is restricted to the framework of sheltered employment programmes: No    
      
   III.2) Conditions related to the contract
      III.2.1) Information about a particular profession    
      Reference to the relevant law, regulation or administrative provision:          
      Not Provided    
      III.2.2) Contract performance conditions          
      Not Provided          
      III.2.3) Information about staff responsible for the performance of the contract
      Obligation to indicate the names and professional qualifications of the staff assigned to performing the contract: No

Section IV: Procedure
   IV.1) Description OPEN
      IV.1.1) Type of procedure: Open   
   
   IV.1.3) Information about a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system    
         The procurement involves the establishment of a framework agreement - NO    
         In the case of framework agreements justification for any duration exceeding 4 years: Not Provided    
   
   
   IV.1.6) Information about electronic auction:
      An electronic auction will be used: No
      Additional information about electronic auction: Not provided
   IV.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
      The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No       
   IV.2) Administrative information
      IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure:
         Notice number in the OJ S: Not provided       
      IV.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
       Date: 20/03/2023
            
      IV.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted: English,       
      IV.2.6) Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender: Not Provided      
      IV.2.7) Conditions for opening of tenders:
         Date: 20/03/2023
         Time: 13:00
      

Section VI: Complementary Information
   VI.1) Information about recurrence
   This is a recurrent procurement: No    
   Estimated timing for further notices to be published: Not provided
   VI.2) Information about electronic workflows
   Electronic ordering will be used No       
   Electronic invoicing will be accepted No       
   Electronic payment will be used No       
   VI.3) Additional Information: For more information about this opportunity, please visit the Delta eSourcing portal at:
https://www.delta-esourcing.com/tenders/UK-UK-London:-Auditing-services./57EC86M954

To respond to this opportunity, please click here:
https://www.delta-esourcing.com/respond/57EC86M954
   VI.4) Procedures for review
   VI.4.1) Review body:
             Metropolitan
       London, United Kingdom
   VI.4.2) Body responsible for mediation procedures:
Not provided
   VI.4.3) Review procedure
   Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures:    
    Not Provided    
   VI.4.4) Service from which information about the lodging of appeals may be obtained:
Not provided
   VI.5) Date Of Dispatch Of This Notice: 08/02/2023

Annex A