Guidance

Other Public Sector Bodies supporting information for Delivery Partner Dynamic Purchasing System

Updated 16 April 2024

Applies to England

What the Delivery Partner DPS does

The Delivery Partner DPS has been procured through a fully compliant Procurement Process (FTS Reference 2021/S 000-011460) and can be used to enable the quick and efficient procurement of housing-led development on land owned by the Homes England and Other Public Sector Bodies. Housing-led development is development that is predominantly residential but may include other subsidiary uses, for example, commercial, retail, leisure or educational development.

Because the DPS is procurement compliant, it enables you to control the speed of delivery or the quality of homes that are developed on your land.

 How Other Public Sector Bodies can use the DPS

The Delivery Partner DPS can be used to procure housing-led development. This will include all activities necessary to construct housing and associated infrastructure, marketing and sales and transfer of freehold to eventual owners.

It can also be used to procure the construction of homes, this is where a DPS member provides a construction or design and construction service only and homes are handed over to the procuring public body on completion.

Other Public Sector Bodies (OPSBs) who can use the Delivery Partner DPS as identified in the tender documents are listed here link. Please check that your organisation is listed to ensure that you are able to procure through the DPS.

The DPS will cover all areas of England.

You will need to sign an Access Agreement before you can use the DPS. As part of the sign-up process you will also be provided with access to ‘ProContract’, the Homes England procurement portal.

Further information about the DPS is held in ProContract and all calls for Competition to procure a DPS member must be undertaken through ProContract.

Full schedule of activities for the Delivery Partner DPS

Read about the full schedule of activities for the Delivery Partner DPS.

How housebuilders apply to join DPS

The DPS is divided into categories. Housebuilders apply to join the large or small sites categories. The large sites category is for sites that will deliver over 70 homes and the small sites category is for sites that will deliver under 70 homes.

As part of their application housebuilders are asked to identify the geographic areas and the types of development they are interested in undertaking.

Read more about how housebuilders are procured through the DPS.

 Categories

When housebuilders apply, they can tell us about the types of residential development they are (or are not) interested in.

Development types:

• General residential-led development
• Sites including conversion, refurbishment and works to listed buildings
• Sites to be delivered via a construction and direct contracting approach
• Sites including Extra Care and other forms of supported living
• Sites providing 100% Affordable Housing

As a first stage in the shortlisting process, sites should be offered only to those who are interested in that specific type of site.

For example, a site of 60 homes in the North West which requires refurbishment of a listed building would only be offered to DPS members who were selected as a member of the small sites category and had expressed interested in working in the North West on refurbishment and conversion projects.

Before issuing a call for competition, Homes England will generate for you the list of DPS members who should tender for each site based on size of site, geographic area and development type.

Lead and deputy contacts

Each Panel Member has nominated a lead and deputy contract for their company. This information is updated as and when required and is available to signed up users of the DPS. Please ensure that you are using the most up-to-date information.

E-Tendering System

All calls for competitions must go through the Homes England E-Tendering system, Pro Contract. Access to the E-Tendering system will be provided once you have signed the access agreement enabling you to use the DPS.

How to register

We make the Delivery Partner DPS available to our public sector partners free of charge, although we will ask you to sign up to an Agreement with us prior to using it. Each DPS member has signed a DPS Agreement. This agreement details the terms and conditions they must adhere to as a DPS member.

Follow these steps to register to use the DPS

Homes England have prequalified all housebuilders appointed to the DPS and we will maintain ongoing checks on their eligibility.

To appoint a housebuilder for a specific site you are required to run a call for competition to select your preferred partner. You must run all calls for competition through ProContract, our procurement portal. You will be provided with access to this when you sign up with us to use the DPS. You should run the call for competition independently but we will make information and guidance available.

The DPS can be used to procure a developer who will pay a land value for a site you wish to market and will take responsibility for all stages of the development process from design and construction to marketing and sales. You can also use the DPS to procure a contractor to undertake the design and construction of homes that you wish to retain.

The DPS will run from 6 September 2021. We expect it will run for up to 10 years.

Applications to join the DPS remain open and so active local developers who may be interested in tendering for a specific site can be invited to join at any time. Homes England will assess these applications in a maximum of 15 days.

How the Call for Competition process works

Further information on the call for competition process is in the DPS Access Agreement.

The Call for Competition stage is used to select a DPS members to deliver a specific site. You will be required to use the DPS Portal (currently ProContract) to manage your call for competition. As part of the sign-up process to use the DPS you will be provided with access to the Homes England ProContract system.

The DPS has a growing membership of housebuilders and Homes England will generate the initial tender list based on the size of the site, the location and the type of development required.

The call for competition process is divided into two stages, that is designed to identify no more than 6 companies who will submit a full tender.

Stage 1 – Expression of interest

DPS members will be asked to respond on a yes / no basis to questions relevant to the project. Questions can be tailored to the site or other requirements, for example:

• Are you able to meet project timescales?
• Are you able to meet specific project design, sustainability or Modern Methods of Construction criteria?

All DPS members who respond positively to this stage should then be issued with the full tender documents.

Stage 2 – Tender

Full tender documents must be issued to all companies returning a positive Expression of Interest.

If more than 6 companies are interested in tendering for the site, the tender stage should be divided into two parts. If less than 6 companies are interested it can be undertaken as a single stage.

Where the tender is divided into two stages, stage 1 will consist of an initial tender response where the interested DPS members should be asked to provide an initial tender response to cover certain key elements of the tender and enable selection of the DPS members most suited to complete a full tender.

For example, housebuilders could be asked to submit their initial draft of the following items as their stage 1 submission. Submission requirements for stage one should be varied to suit project requirements but may consist of:

• a constraints plan
• scheme composition in terms of house types, numbers and values
• identification of key project risks and how these would be mitigated
• details of any proposed Affiliated Entity to enter into the Project Agreement.

Initial tender submissions should be evaluated in accordance with the evaluation methodology set out in the ITT. Successful DPS members will be selected to proceed to submit a full tender unsuccessful members should receive feedback.

Successful DPS members who complete a Full Tender Submissions will be evaluated in accordance with the evaluation methodology set out in the ITT. Any information submitted at stage 1 can be developed further for submission at stage 2. Following evaluation unsuccessful DPS members should receive feedback.

Tender Financial Appraisal

Financial assessment of DPS members is undertaken by Homes England as they apply to join the DPS, but financial requirements for specific project can vary and so during the Tender Stage financial appraisals should be carried out to assess whether Members have sufficient financial strength and capacity to undertake the relevant project.

Where appropriate, DPS members can be required to demonstrate a higher level of turnover and net assets than they were asked to evidence in their application to join the DPS. Other financial information can also be assessed on a project specific basis. You are responsible for undertaking Project specific financial appraisal of your selected bidders.

Further information on the processes used by Homes England is available in the DPS Agreement.

Draw down contracts for specific sites

Evaluation criteria

We expect that you will use the DPS to deliver homes in a range of ways and the evaluation criteria should be varied to suit the nature of the individual projects procured through the DPS.

The exact weighting of the evaluation criteria and sub-criteria should be detailed within the project specific ITT and should reflect the relative importance of the criteria to the success of the project.

The evaluation methodology to be used for each individual project must be made clear in the ITT for the relevant Call for Competition.

Evaluation criteria and weightings for construction works

The following are suggested as draft evaluation criteria for a construction or direct development project where the DPS member is providing a design and construction or construction service only and is being paid to do that. This criteria should be tailored on a project specific basis and specific weightings set for sub criteria.

Quality and price for construction works

Criteria for quality:

• Employer’s Requirements
• Planning
• Technical Approach
• Resources and Expertise
• Programme
• Social Value
• Safety, sustainability
• Financial and Customer Due Diligence

Weighting: 50% (plus or minus 30%)

Construction cost:

Weighting: 50% (plus or minus 30%)

Total score: 100%

 Evaluation criteria and weightings for development works

The following are suggested as headline evaluation criteria for a development project where the DPS member is providing a full end to end development process and is paying a land value for the site. This criteria should be tailored on a project specific basis and specific weightings set for sub criteria.

Quality and price for development works

Criteria for quality:

• Use of Modern Methods of Construction
• Design Quality
• Risk Register of Technical Risks
• Social Value
• Planning
• Long-term Management Arrangements
• Marketing Strategy
• Programme
• Capacity and Resources
• Financial and Customer Due Diligence

Weighting: 50% (plus or minus 30%)

Price:

• financial offer
• land value bid
• cost schedule
• cost robustness

Weighting: 50% (plus or minus 30%)

Total score: 100%

 Insurance

Insurances held by DPS members should also be checked on a project specific basis, for example, Contractors All Risks Insurance is not available on a general basis, it is linked to a specific project. Insurances may also need to be raised in some cases. At the time of appointment to the DPS Members self-certified that already have, or can commit to obtain prior to the commencement of the contract, the following insurances:

• Employers Liability – £10 million
• Public Liability – £10 million
• Contractors All Risks – £20 million large sites category and £10 million small sites category

Health and safety

Panel Members have demonstrated through the tender process that they have the necessary skills, capacity, resources, experience, competence and organisational capability to deliver the type of projects covered by the DPS.

Each DPS Member will have either:

• successfully met the assessment requirements of a construction-related scheme in registered membership of the Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) forum – or an equivalent scheme
• demonstrated their health and safety procedures

You will retain the legal responsibility as a construction Client under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 to carry out competency checks on all appointees to a project and ensure that the DPS member is suitable for the type of work to be undertaken.

 Consortia and sub-contracting

Appointed DPS Members must lead all Call for Competition tenders for work procured through the DPS and will be responsible for the delivery of all works procured through the DPS. However, DPS Members will use sub-contractors to deliver projects.

A key role of the DPS Member is to put together the most efficient and effective supply-chain to deliver each project procured through the DPS.

Affiliated Entities

DPS members can contract at project stage in the name of an approved Affiliated Entity, thereby allowing DPS members to deliver individual developments through their subsidiaries where this is appropriate.

You must provide approval to any Affiliated Entity before they can sign the project specific draw down contract with you. The DPS Agreement provides further information on this.

Joint venture companies

At call for competition stage, you may also use the affiliated entity option to request the bidders to form a joint venture between the successful bidder and you as the contracting authority. In this case you would hold a share in any Approved Affiliated Entity. Details of any required joint venture should be stated in the call for competition documents.

The project draw down contract would then be entered into by the Joint Venture Company in which the shareholders are the winning bidder and the contracting authority.

Soft market testing and early market engagement

The DPS remains open for housebuilders to join at any time. Homes England will assess any new applications in 10 days if all information is available or 15 days, if verifications are required.

Because the application process remains open early market engagement is extremely important to alert housebuilders to forthcoming opportunities so they have time to apply to join the DPS prior to your Call for Competition commencing.

You are strongly encouraged to undertake early market engagement prior to launching any formal tender process.

If there are uncertainties about the viability of a site or the best way to bring a site forward, early market engagement can also be undertaken to gain advice on viability. This can be undertaken informally and can involve existing DPS members and local active housebuilders who may be interested in joining the DPS in order to bid for a specific site.

Any early market engagement should be undertaken as a separate process that occurs before the formal call for competition process commences.

For DPS members, initial contact should be made with the nominated contacts available to signed up users of the DPS.

A selected number of these can be contacted to ask if they are interested in providing early stage advice. In many cases it has been very useful to hold an informal briefing meeting to provide information about the site and to gain initial responses/reactions as to the best way to progress with the development.

A site visit can be linked to the meeting and this provides a valuable opportunity for other stakeholders, to be involved.