Revenue Collection & Benefits Admin | London Borough of Hounslow Tender

The Authority is seeking a suitably qualified and experienced Service Supplier to deliver high quality, compliant and customer focused Revenue Collection and Benefits Administration Services from 1 October 2027.

The contract will include:

• Fully managed Revenue Collection Service including Council Tax and Business Rates Collection

• Fully managed Benefits Administration Service including Housing Benefits, Council Tax Support and Discretionary schemes

• Fully managed Free School Meals administration

• Customer services for Council Tax, Business Rates, Housing Benefits, Council Tax Support, Discretionary Schemes and Free School Meals

• Provision of the IT systems used: Business Rates system, and Council Tax and Benefits system, and any other systems, not provided or managed by the Council, necessary to meet requirements for service delivery

• Provision of system management for the Business Rates system, and Council Tax and Benefits system, and any other systems, not provided or managed by the Council, necessary to meet the requirements for service delivery

• Mobilisation of the service and system implementation

• Ongoing service improvement, cost savings and benchmarking

• Exit and transition management support

Contract start and go-live: The Contract is anticipated to commence in February 2027 to enable mobilisation and implementation. The full live service will commence on 1 October 2027.

Contract term and end dates: The initial term will run until 30 September 2032.

The Authority may extend the Contract by a further two (2) years (to 30 September 2034) and then by a further two (2) years (to 30 September 2036).

For the avoidance of doubt, the Contract end date is aligned to 30 September and is not linked to the anniversary of the anticipated February commencement date.

The Authority may extend the Contract at its discretion by a first extension period of up to two (2) years, ending on 30 September 2034 and by a further extension period of up to two (2) years ending on 30 September 2036.

The Contract end date (whether at the end of the Initial Term or any extension) is aligned to the Service Go‑Live Date and will fall on 30 September. It is not linked to the anniversary of the anticipated February Contract Commencement Date.

The Authority has considered whether the requirement can appropriately be divided into lots, including in light of preliminary market engagement.

The Authority has concluded that this procurement is not suitable for division into lots because the services and systems form a single integrated end‑to‑end operating model and require single-point accountability for statutory outcomes and customer experience.

The requirement includes Revenue Collection (Council Tax and Business Rates), Benefits Administration (including Housing Benefit, Council Tax Support and discretionary schemes), Free School Meals administration, multi‑channel customer services, and provision and management of the supporting IT systems, together with mobilisation, continuous improvement and exit support. These components are operationally interdependent and must operate seamlessly for residents and businesses.

Dividing the requirement into lots would create material interface risk and split accountability, particularly at the boundaries between: (i) customer contact (telephony/digital), (ii) back‑office processing and decision‑making, and (iii) system configuration, workflow and integrations.

Experience in this service area indicates that performance failures and customer detriment most commonly arise at such interfaces, leading to delays, rework, inconsistent decision‑making and disputes over responsibility. Lotting would therefore increase delivery and governance complexity and reduce clarity of accountability for statutory compliance, performance, data quality, reporting and audit readiness.

The Contract includes mobilisation to achieve go‑live on 1 October 2027. A lotted model would increase mobilisation risk by making readiness dependent on multiple suppliers’ inter‑related deliverables (including data sharing, workflow hand‑offs and management information reconciliation). A single contract provides the clearest route to controlled mobilisation, stable day‑one operations and audit/assurance readiness.

Lotting is also likely to reduce value for money due to duplicated overheads, additional integration and governance activity, increased risk pricing and a higher likelihood of disputes and change at interfaces. A single integrated contract supports a coherent commercial model, aligned incentives and a single performance framework.

Competition is maintained because bidders may propose consortia, partnerships and/or specialist subcontractors, provided the prime contractor retains end‑to‑end accountability for delivery and outcomes across all service components.

As outlined in the Invitation to Submit Initial Tender

As outlined in the Invitation to Submit Initial Tender

https://procontract.due-north.com/Procurer/Advert/View?advertId=01672879-e04a-f111-813c-005056b64545&fromAdvertEvent=True

The Authority has identified a number of known but inherently uncertain risks associated with the delivery of Revenues, Benefits and associated services.

These include:

a) future legislative, policy and regulatory changes;

b) demand volatility and changes in caseload complexity;

c) uncertainty relating to TUPE scope and workforce information;

d) data quality and legacy system dependencies;

e) evolving technology, digital service expectations and integration requirements;

f) changes in labour market conditions; and

g) potential organisational or strategic changes within the Authority.

These risks are not wholly attributable to either party and may require contract modification in accordance with the agreed change control provisions.

The procurement and resulting contract will therefore include appropriate mechanisms to manage change in a transparent and controlled manner.

The Authority is conducting this Procurement using the Competitive Flexible procedure under Section 20(2)(b) of the Procurement Act 2023. Any interested organisation/consortium may submit an Initial Tender in response to the Invitation to Submit Initial Tender and this Tender Notice.

The procurement will be conducted through two tender stages only;

Stage 1 – Initial Tender

Stage 2 – Improved Final Tender (Best and Final Offer)

Between these two tender stages, the Authority will undertake a non‑scored presentation/clarification step. This step does not constitute a tender stage and does not involve negotiation.

The Authority will not conduct negotiations or dialogue on pricing, solutions, or contract terms at any stage. The only interactions between Stage 1 and Stage 2 will be non-scored presentations/clarifications to verify and clarify submitted tenders. Any change a bidder wishes to make must be submitted only in its Improved Final Tender.

Any presentations or clarification discussions are for the purposes of:

• verifying and testing the content of written submissions;

• clarifying ambiguities or inconsistencies;

• confirming bidders’ understanding of the Authority’s requirements and proposed approach; and

• testing and challenging the assumptions underpinning bidders’ proposed solutions and pricing

No commitments, improvements, or changes discussed during presentations or clarifications will be taken into account for evaluation unless they are formally incorporated into the bidder’s Improved Final Tender.

Hounslow House, 7 Bath Road

Hounslow, London

TW3 3EB

United Kingdom

Email: procurement@hounslow.gov.uk

Website: http://www.hounslow.gov.uk

Region: UKI75 – Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames

Organisation type: Public authority – sub-central government