Utilise your Stock Condition Surveys - top tips for better procurement planning

Often procurement isn’t seen as the most glamourous part of public sector housing delivery. But when it goes wrong, everyone feels it.

Poorly planned procurement leads to budget overspend, stalled timelines and increased regulatory risk. And, whilst the public rarely sees the machinery behind a tender, they do experience the consequences – delayed repairs, poorly planned upgrades and services that don’t reflect what they need. 

These problems are often pre-destined from the planning stage. Without clear requirements and early engagement even the most well-intentioned projects can come under strain.

The good news is that these challenges are preventable. 

With the right planning habits you can shift from reactive tendering to more confident procurement strategies. It all starts with utilising your stock condition data to forecast demand, bundle works intelligently and engage with suppliers early. 

Here are our top tips for utilising your stock condition data in procurement planning:

1. Start early – analyse the data in depth for a clear picture of your stock condition

This stage sets the foundation for everything that follows. A high-level overview isn’t really enough here. Understanding the true condition of your homes helps you to confidently forecast works and anticipate your investment needs.

2. Check the quality and consistency of data

If your plans are built on unreliable data then you’re always going to struggle. First you need to validate it for completeness, accuracy and consistency. This’ll prevent costly surprises later in the procurement cycle.

3. Prioritise the works according to risk – and don’t just think about costs 

Risk (especially health, safety and compliance) should drive the sequencing of works. Your data can help identify properties with the greatest need. Prioritising based on risk ensures that procurement delivers safe, compliant homes and not just cheaper contracts. 

4. Align the findings with your asset strategy and business plan

This will help ensure your activities support wider goals such as decarbonisation, building safety, regeneration and customer satisfaction. It’ll create coherence between day-to-day activities and long-term value. 

5. Sequence the programme of work to achieve the best value for money 

With clearer insight into what’s coming up, you can group projects more intelligently. This’ll mean combining similar works, geographic areas or asset types to deliver better economies of scale. You’ll reduce upfront procurement and mobilisation costs whilst improving contractor performance in the long-term. 

6. Include your planned maintenance programme in your procurement pipeline

Once finalised this plan should feed directly into your visible, organisation-wide procurement pipeline. This’ll help you secure the right approvals early, engage with the market at the right time, and align your internal teams. A transparent pipeline also gives suppliers confidence to plan capacity and invest in long-term partnerships. 

7. Decide the right procurement approach for each project – and be clear from the outset

Different projects will suit different procurement routes – this includes frameworks, DPS’s, open tenders or partnering models. Improved planning helps clarify the scale, complexity and timing of each project which can help you choose the most suitable approach. 

8. Sequence your procurements in line with internal resource 

Even the best laid plans can fail if you don’t consider your internal capacity. Sequencing your projects based on the availability of your commercial, technical and operations teams prevents bottlenecks and ensures each tender gets the attention it deserves. 

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These tips should help you get on track with your procurement planning – and get you in the right mindset from the very beginning. 

Require a little extra help? Our Procurement Planning service has been designed with you in mind. Our technical team will work with you to design a tailored procurement plan that meets your objectives.

Contact a member of the team today to learn more - Contact Us | South East Consortium