Alarm System in Sheltered Housing - Market Engagement

Milton Keynes City Council has 27 Sheltered Housing sites across the city. Sheltered housing is supported accommodation for older people and is mostly one large building with individual flats inside. The smallest scheme has 21 flats and the largest 50 flats. There is an onsite Sheltered housing Officer 37hrs a week and some buildings have external properties that are connected to the main scheme. The current hard wired analogue scheme equipment consists of pull cords, alarm units and pendants that enable the tenant to use in the event of an emergency. During office hours the calls go direct to the SHO via an associated handset, once off site all calls come through to the Community Alarm service. The main buildings contain fire alarm systems, smoke alarms door entry and lifts that are also connected into the scheme equipment. In addition tenants can have peripherals added to enable then to continue to live as independently as possible, these may be, for example, bed sensors , flood detector or falls sensor .

These sites currently utilise Analogue equipment that after 2025 will no longer be supported due to the telephony infrastructure changes. To that extent the Council is inviting expressions of interest as we look to ensure providing the best possible resources in our supported accommodation requirements.

Initial work and research has been undertaken to determine the future approach. To enable analogue scheme equipment to continue to work consideration was given to an IP connector that would concert the analogue call into a digital one. The current equipment is over 20 years old , if it fails repair is unlikely (due to age and availability of parts) and it was felt that full equipment upgrades was more robust and best use of resources.

The Council preference at this stage is to look at a fully digital scheme solution for both on site and off site activations, however no decision has been made and we are looking to understand what the market may have on offer.

To allow the Council to understand its options, please can you, as part of the expression of interest, provide a response to the following questions:

• oFor a contract of this size, what specific information would you require to be able to understand fully our needs and to be in a position to offer a suitable solution via a formal procurement exercise
• oWhat constraints do you foresee (if any) to the contract based on the information available in this brief?
• oWhat would attract/detract you from bidding for such an opportunity
• oWhat key infrastructure do you see being required to ensure that the solution we deliver is a) suitable b) achievable c) sustainable
• oPlease could you outline a brief overview of an expected programme to provide a solution to cover all 27 sites.
• oPlease provide any other queries or information you may have at this time.

As outlined, the Council has not made any decision on its solution or product to del...

Additional information: For any suppliers interested in this opportunity please visit our e-Tendering portal - https://in-tendhost.co.uk/milton-keynes/aspx/Home

Is a Recurrent Procurement Type? : No