Twenty-one suppliers named on latest £100m SHED framework

The second framework was launched one year later.

PfH has designed the SHED framework to overcome what it described as barriers to the procurement process such as “extensive public bureaucracy”. 

It is also aligned with the government’s National Procurement Strategy, which encourages public authorities to increase innovation and the use of disruptive technologies throughout the supply chain.

Jenny Danson, director of the Proptech Innovation Network, said: “I regularly see brilliant, imaginative young firms leave the social housing sector because it’s just too difficult for them to get onto public procurement frameworks.

“If we want innovation in this sector, we need initiatives like SHED which reduce the risks and costs for both suppliers and housing providers and help talented start-ups to get heard among all the noise.”

Neil Butters, head of procurement at PfH, said: “When we first set up this disruptors’ framework, we thought long and hard about how to create an uncomplicated and flexible contracting process that would open opportunities up to small suppliers but ensure housing providers are still compliant.

“We saw our highest ever number of SMEs and micro-businesses bidding for SHED3, which is great news and very much in line with the ambitions of the new Procurement Act, which is all about boosting SME participation and encouraging innovative procurement.”

Towards the end of last year, a construction framework worth £1.5bn is opened for bids from consultants and contractors interested in delivering mixed-use housing across the North of England.

Innovation Chain North (ICN)’s latest procurement framework will run for four years from 2024 to 2028. Suppliers will be able to secure contracts from ICN clients once accepted on to it.