PfH Scotland’s specialist heating services procurement framework specifically designed to meet the needs of the Scottish social housing sector. The EESSH framework offers participating social landlords the opportunity to achieve major improvements in energy efficiency and significant savings on their energy bills.
EESSH was introduced in March 2014, with the aim of improving the energy efficiency of social housing in Scotland while reducing energy consumption, fuel poverty and the emission of greenhouse gases. An initial milestone of achieving an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of band D or better by 31st December 2019 was set for social landlords of social rented homes. In June 2019, a second milestone, of achieving an EPC rating of Band B (or is as energy efficient as practicably possible) was confirmed for social rented houses to be met by December 2032 (EESSH2).
PfH Scotland issued a call for tenders in May 2017 and received tenders from a total of 43 heating services contractors. Following an exhaustive assessment process, 26 companies were appointed to the framework in one of six defined geographic regions across Scotland. The framework was split across these different regions with the specific aim of encouraging smaller local contractors to apply. To further support participation by smaller local contractors, evaluation of tenders was 70% weighted in favour of quality and 30% on price.
Alongside competitive pricing, technical competence and a strong track record in health and safety, bidding contractors were assessed according to their ability to demonstrate high quality service, market expertise, transparency and integrity alongside innovation and the use of new technologies. Contractors able to demonstrate a commitment to sustainability and social value and a capacity to deliver local community benefit were marked particularly highly.
In total, 18 of the 26 contractors now appointed to the framework are defined as SMEs, based on the standard classification of having less than 250 employees, an annual turnover below £50 million and gross assets of less than £12.5 million. This is equivalent to almost 70% of the total.
In each geographic region, the framework has been broken down into 13 individual lots covering services ranging from energy performance certification to domestic and commercial gas servicing and from the installation of renewables to architectural services. An SME contractor topped the shortlist in nine of the 13 lots.
PfH Scotland members using framework to procure heating services will benefit from a comprehensive service solution provided by PfH Scotland. This covers everything from initial project engagement through to performance monitoring and contract management.
If you would like to find out more information on all of our nominated suppliers for the EESSH heating services framework, click here.
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