Improving housing advice services to prevent homelessness

The project is awarded £100,000 in funding through Round 6 of the Local Digital Fund to begin a discovery phase.

The project team recently attended the Local Digital Round 6 welcome event to learn more about ways of working. They have also drafted a procurement specification for a supplier to carry out the discovery, which will be finalised with the project partners.

The team has created a Microsoft Teams site where they can collaborate with external project team members, and have scheduled a meeting to agree on roles and responsibilities. The final draft of requirements and specifications has been published on the CCS Contract Award Service.

The Newham project team successfully published the supplier specification on the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Digital Outcomes framework on Tuesday 23 May and have addressed any clarification questions that have been raised. Currently, the team is in the process of drafting roles and responsibilities, which will be finalised in collaboration with the appointed supplier.

The deadline for supplier responses is Wednesday 7 June. By Wednesday 14 June, the project team aim to complete the evaluation process and make a decision.

On Wednesday 7 June, the Prevention and Advice to Tackle Homelessness (PATH) project team received the initial responses (stage 1) to the Technical Competence questions for procuring a supplier. This supplier will carry out the discovery project as part of the CCS Digital Outcomes framework. The team has been assessing these responses and met on Friday 14 June to finalise the shortlist for the second round of procurement.

A dedicated project Teams site has been created, where previous research and findings can be uploaded and organised.

In the upcoming sprint, the team will publish the stage 2 procurement, inviting suppliers to submit their proposals. Members of the project team who are involved in other local government projects and have progressed further in their procurement process are sharing their experiences. This knowledge should help ensure a smooth process for the next stage of procurement.

The project team is currently procuring a supplier for the discovery phase via the CCS Digital Outcomes framework. The timeline has experienced a slight delay due to assessing phase one responses, but three suppliers have now been shortlisted and documentation is being prepared.

In the next sprint, they will publish the second phase of the procurement process.

The project team is currently using the CCS Digital Outcomes framework to procure a supplier to deliver the discovery, which will explore contributors to homelessness and access to services that may prevent homelessness. They’ve evaluated the supplier responses and are in the final stages of awarding the contract, with plans to commence work on 6 October.

In the upcoming sprint, the team will continue their contract governance work. To align with the supplier’s proposed plan, they’re in the process of compiling a list of stakeholders for interviews and gathering existing research. This will facilitate a smooth transition into the project’s next phase.

The project team has now completed the research and drafted a report, categorising key findings into three areas of influence:

1. Point of access
2. Upstream prevention
3. Systemic factors

The 10-week timeline has proved challenging for the team in terms of gaining deep engagement. Building trust with the communities takes time, and building strong relationships is crucial for an open exchange of views. Engagement with certain lesser-heard voices, including LGBTQ+ youth, ex-military and care leavers, could have been more extensive. The Christmas period also impacted engagement with the Voluntary and Community sector (VCS).