You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Major housing association seeks to provide vending machines framework to public sector
One of England’s largest housing associations is setting up a £60m framework to provide vending machines to the public sector.
Hyde, which manages 50,000 homes in London and the South East, said vending machines selling hot drinks and snacks are just one area where it wants to expand its procurement activities.
A framework is a general agreement made with suppliers to set out terms and conditions for purchases. Hyde’s new framework will govern the provision of vending machines to the public sector.
A Hyde spokesperson told Inside Housing: “This framework is only focused on vending machines as there is a need in the market, however in the future we will be looking at a range of specialisms.
“We are currently working on a number of other frameworks including stationery and fire safety that will be used by Hyde and will also be available to other public sector organisations to use.”
READ MORE
Re:allies, a procurement partnership group, set up a procurement framework for suppliers of fire safety works to the social housing sector in February.
According to Hyde, extending its frameworks beyond its own use does not require a significant increase in resources, but can help to deliver economies of scale, not just for Hyde but for other organisations as well.
The association has set up frameworks for use outside Hyde before, with 15 registered providers and local authorities using its framework for finding main contractors on developments in the past.
This latest move, however, is intended to reach a wider audience, and the Hyde spokesperson said there is interest in its vending machines framework from outside the social housing sector.
In November last year, Hyde completed a £760m corporate refinancing in an effort to give itself a cushion to prepare for the possibility of negative market pressure.
This was not enough for it to avoid being downgraded by the Regulator of Social Housing, which changed its financial viability rating from V1 to V2, a decision criticised at the time by Peter Denton, finance director at Hyde.
