Planning

Core Financial Services

LONDON BOROUGH OF HOUNSLOW

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Planning

29 Jul 2025 at 09:31

Summary of the contracting process

The London Borough of Hounslow is initiating a procurement process for "Core Financial Services" within the general public services sector. This procurement is at the planning stage, with preliminary market engagement scheduled through online interviews in August and September 2025. The intended services include accounts payable, rent accounting, and housing rent collection. Key objectives include cost reduction, enhanced automation, and improved service delivery. The contract, valued at £12,618,000 GBP, will commence on 1st October 2027 and conclude on 30th September 2032, providing services in the UKI75 region of the United Kingdom.

This tender offers significant opportunities for businesses specialising in financial services, automation, and systems integration to expand their market presence. Firms with expertise in offering efficient accounts payable solutions, managing housing rent collections, or providing tailored financial services to local authorities would be well-positioned to compete. Additionally, businesses adept at digital transformation and offering automated solutions to enhance accuracy in financial transactions could leverage this procurement to secure a long-term partnership with the London Borough of Hounslow.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

Core Financial Services

Notice Description

LBH is seeking to commission: Accounts Payable (also provided to LBH trading company) Rent accounting Housing Rent Collection (optional) Vision: Our vision for the Accounts Payable: Our vision is to provide an efficient and transparent Accounts Payable service that ensures timely and accurate payments to vendors, suppliers, and service providers. The service should enable service users to self-serve and for automation to be in place where possible. We are committed to transforming payment processes, minimising errors, and ensuring the responsible management of public funds. Processes should be constantly reviewed and continuously subject to improvement. Our vision for Rent Accounting: To maintain clear, up-to-date records for each tenant, providing transparent statements, and ensuring that updates and changes are processed in a timely and accurate manner. To ensure that the service and its processes work effectively and in a joined-up way with the Housing Income service, as well as there being a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the service. Housing Rent Collection: To provide an efficient, accessible, and customer-focused rent collection service that ensures timely and accurate receipt of payments. The service will focus on the maximisation of rent collection. As well as, promptly providing support to tenants enabling them to maintain their rent payments and manage other financial commitments. The service will work closely with tenancy management, benefits and homelessness functions to provide effective, holistic support for tenants, to help sustain tenancies, ensure they get what they are entitled to and to fulfil the Local Authorities responsibilities as a landlord. Current performance Accounts Payable: 96.4% of valid Invoices paid in 30 days of the due date 57,969 Accounts Payable transactions were processed in 2024/25 In 2024/25 58,000 transactions were processed through ContrOCC 138 CIS deductions in 2024/252 In 2024/25, 1,815 new creditor set up and 867 amendments and 67 closures were received by the current supplier Rent Accounting: During 2024/25 rent accounts have taken an average of less than a day to set up There are 13,933 properties with rent accounts 1,423 new rent accounts were set up in 2024/25 Housing Rent Collection: The KPI target for HRA income collection is 100% and 90% for TA income collection In 2024/25 the HRA income collection rate has been consistently over 97.65% each month. Throughout the majority of the year the collection rate has been over 98%, apart from January and February 2025 where the collection rate was 97.66% and 97.65% respectively In 2024/25 the TA income collection rate has been above 92%, exceeding the target, and between May 2024 and July 2024 collection rates exceeded 100% In March 2025 6,293 HRA households were in arrears, out of approximately 13,000 In March 2025 395 TA households were in arrears, out of approximately 550 The total value of rent arrears, across HRA households and TA, is PS9m Approximately 10% of housing rent collection is via direct debit Current contract cost Annual core contract cost Accounts Payable: PS563k Rent Accounting: PS240k Housing Rent Collection: PS1.3m Objectives Lower contract cost by min 10% Automation of all reconciliation processes to reduce manual admin Automated confirmation of payee/supplier to check for a match before a payment is made to reduce the possibility of the wrong supplier being paid Automation of VAT and CIS deduction calculations to reduce possibility for mistakes and inaccuracies Increased automation of rent accounting Introduce paperless DD for tenants Reduce rent arrears

Planning Information

The Council intends to hold a series of online interviews with interested providers during August/September 2025. It should be noted that this engagement is not a formal tendering process. The information we gain through our market engagement will help to inform our commissioning intentions and refine our specification for this service.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-0567be
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/043730-2025
Current Stage
Planning
All Stages
Planning

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Not Specified
Procurement Method Details
Not specified
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

75 - Administration, defence and social security services


CPV Codes

75110000 - General public services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£12,618,000 £10M-£100M
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
29 Jul 20254 months ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
5 Sep 2025Expired
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
30 Sep 2027 - 30 Sep 2032 Over 5 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Planning
Lots Status
Planning
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
LONDON BOROUGH OF HOUNSLOW
Contact Name
Not specified
Contact Email
beatrice.uhlir@hounslow.gov.uk
Contact Phone
Not specified

Buyer Location

Locality
HOUNSLOW, LONDON
Postcode
TW3 3EB
Post Town
Twickenham
Country
England

Major Region (ITL 1)
TLI London
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLI7 Outer London - West and North West
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLI75 Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames
Delivery Location
TLI75 Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames

Local Authority
Hounslow
Electoral Ward
Hounslow West
Westminster Constituency
Feltham and Heston

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

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The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts.

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