Written by Emma Baskeyfield, Senior Technical Manager
The success of a procurement project is often decided long before contractors are invited to tender.
Housing providers face increasingly complex investment decisions, alongside tighter budgets and evolving legislation. Early technical decisions, whether for energy efficiency upgrades or major replacement programmes, often determine how successful a project will be.
Getting those decisions right starts with good technical advice.
Why planning matters
A procurement exercise is only as strong as the information behind it.
A specification does far more than describe the works. It shapes how contractors interpret the project and influences the quality of the bids they submit. If it’s unclear or incomplete, problems often aren’t identified until work is underway, making them harder to resolve, imposing subsequent delay and cost
Early planning gives landlords the opportunity to test assumptions and build confidence that investment is being targeted where it will make the biggest difference.
A recent windows and doors replacement programme through CHIC demonstrated the value of this approach.
Before procurement began, the specification was independently reviewed to ensure it achieved the right balance between quality, compliance and value for money. Several opportunities to strengthen the documentation were identified, giving bidders greater clarity and reducing the risk of issues arising later in the project.
The result was a procurement built on stronger foundations, giving the landlord confidence that it would achieve the outcomes it wanted from the outset.
Why technical advice is becoming more important
The scope of housing investment has changed significantly in recent years. Projects that might once have been considered straightforward now need to take account of a much wider range of factors. Replacing windows, for example, can also affect ventilation, energy efficiency and compliance with current standards.
Alongside this, housing providers are responding to new legislation and evolving resident expectations, while planning long term investment programmes with finite resources. Reliable asset data has never been more important, yet many organisations still find it difficult to build a complete picture of their housing stock.
Technical advice helps connect these different considerations, enabling providers to make informed investment decisions before they become procurement decisions.
The value of independent expertise
Housing providers work closely with contractors and manufacturers who bring valuable product knowledge and practical experience. Independent technical advice offers something different.
Having a critical friend means receiving objective challenge at the right time. It means asking the questions that might otherwise be overlooked and testing whether proposals genuinely meet the needs of the landlord and its residents.
It’s not about criticising decisions. It’s about helping ensure the right decisions are fully considered before they are made.
Where CHIC supports members
Many organisations know CHIC for procurement, but technical guidance is an important part of the support available to members before projects go to market.
Our Technical Services Team works alongside members to review specifications, identify technical risks, interpret compliance requirements and provide independent advice during project planning and mobilisation This support is included as part of membership because better procurement starts with better preparation.
By combining technical expertise with procurement knowledge, we help members approach projects with greater confidence and build stronger foundations for successful delivery.
A final thought: get the basics right
If there’s one final point I would leave you with it’s this.
It can be tempting to move quickly into procurement, particularly when programmes are under pressure to deliver. Taking the time to understand your housing stock, validate your asset data and define clear project objectives will always pay dividends.
When you have confidence in your data and a clear understanding of what you want to achieve, every decision that follows becomes easier.
It’s a simple message, but one that’s easy to overlook: get the basics right and everything that follows has a much greater chance of succeeding.
