Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
Orbit Group Limited
Garden Court, Harry Weston Road, Binley Business Park
Coventry
CV3 2SU
Contact
Mrs Emily Cook
Telephone
+44 7581035310
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UK - United Kingdom
Internet address(es)
Main address
Buyer's address
http://www.housingprocurement.com
one.3) Communication
Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
one.5) Main activity
Housing and community amenities
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
Prior Information Notice (PIN) - Assistive Technologies - Market Engagement Event
Reference number
DN670434
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 50330000 - Maintenance services of telecommunications equipment
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
Orbit Group Ltd is issuing this prior information notice to invite companies to participate in the market consultation event in support of Orbits upcoming requirements for the provision of assistive technologies categories - including, but not limited to: warden call systems including servicing and maintenance, digital lifelines, warden call digital converters, and other categories impacted by the upcoming digital switchover.
Orbit Group Ltd would like to invite interested parties to attend a market engagement event to be held during w/c 5th June 2023. The event will consist of a remote briefing, due to take place on Wednesday 7th June 2023 at 9.30am, followed by an interview (via Microsoft Teams) of up to 45 minutes, structured around your response to the questionnaire which can be found on ProContract using the link above. These will take place on either Wednesday 7th, Thursday 8th or Thursday 15th June and applicants will be contacted directly. Please see below for details of how to submit an expression of interest (EOI).
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.2) Description
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 50710000 - Repair and maintenance services of electrical and mechanical building installations
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKF - East Midlands (England)
- UKG - West Midlands (England)
- UKH - East of England
- UKI - London
- UKJ - South East (England)
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
Orbit Group manages around 45,000 affordable homes in in the Midlands, East and South East of England, and build around 1,500 new affordable homes every year. Over 100,000 people live in an Orbit home and our aim is to ensure the homes we provide and the places we create are good quality, affordable and safe.
As part of this portfolio, Orbit operate 67 Independent Living/Extra Care schemes, along with a wider group of General Needs & Sheltered Housing. At present these benefits from a range of systems, including:
- A mix of digital and analogue (c60) warden call systems
- A portfolio of 1,000 lifelines
At the core, Orbit is seeking a solution to enable manual or automatic alerts to be raised to both on-site staff and off-site alarm receiving centres, which can be emergency or non-emergency driven.
In addition to this, Orbit are keen to ensure that their solution and future procurement strategy accesses best practice and innovation across the industry. As a result Orbit is keen to seek information on the following through this exercise:
- Solution types and capabilities (such as the inclusion of door entry systems)
- Best practice use and management of the solution through-life
- Integration opportunities with complementary systems (including but not limited to fire systems)
Orbit Group Ltd wish to engage with industry to explore the Assistive Technologies category, including: understanding supplier capability, innovation and best practice. This will help inform the development of Orbit's strategy for future competitions within this space.
Orbit Group Ltd are particularly keen to ensure that all suppliers capable of providing services within this category consider engaging with this opportunity. The market engagement event will aim to provide more information about how interested suppliers can engage with Orbit and participate in any future tendering process, as well as offering an opportunity to ask questions.
This scope of the market engagement event is intended to cover:
- Warden call systems (or similar capabilities) – upgrades and installs
- Warden call systems (or similar capabilities) – servicing and maintenance
- Warden call systems – digital converters
- Digital lifelines
- Further offerings related to Assistive Technologies
- Responses and approach to the upcoming digital switchover
Orbit Group invites all parties interested in attending this event to submit an expression of interest (EOI) in the form of the questionnaire available at the ProContract link by no later than Wednesday 31st May 2023. The response and any questions are to be submitted using the ProContract portal. Please take care to complete all required sections to ensure that we can accommodate your organisation within the event.
Following receipt of a questionnaire, Orbit Group Ltd will issue an invitation to the initial briefing and an interview. Note that responses will be accepted through company accounts only and invitations will not be issued to personal email addresses.
Orbit Group Ltd reserve the right to reject requests to attend should it become necessary due to the level of interest, limitations of available technology, responses that indicate irrelevant solutions (e.g. those not suitable for the Digital Switchover) or other purposes.
Caveat:
In issuing this PIN and engaging with the market, Orbit Group Ltd is not committing to conduct any procurement in relation to any element of the requirements within this category.
Equally, non-participation in this market engagement will not be taken into account in any future procurement activities and will not exclude any organisation from submitting a tender in any future competitions.
It is currently anticipated that any formal procurement relating to the provision of Assistive Technologies categories will be subject to Public Contracts Regulations (PCR) 2015.
The contracting authority considers that this scope may be suitable for economic operators that are small or medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as large enterprises.
two.3) Estimated date of publication of contract notice
2 October 2023
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes