---
title: "The Provision of Quality Assurance Monitoring for DWP Housing Benefit Assurance Process - Awarded Contract Notice"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-02c816"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-02c816"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-02c816.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-02c816.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS"
published: "2021-07-14"
---

# The Provision of Quality Assurance Monitoring for DWP Housing Benefit Assurance Process - Awarded Contract Notice

Buyer: DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-02c816

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## Summary

The procurement process involved the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) seeking a supplier for the provision of Quality Assurance Monitoring related to the Housing Benefit Assurance Process. This service falls within the auditing services category, with the contract being awarded to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. The procurement was conducted through a limited method without a prior call for competition, and the contract was signed on 23rd June 2021, with a value of £157,223. The contract is intended to run for a period of 13 months, concluding with the statutory deadline for completed Housing Benefit reports on 30th November each year.

This tender presents a unique opportunity for businesses specialised in auditing and regulatory services, particularly those possessing experience in the public sector and familiarity with housing benefit assessments. The DWP's requirement for independent review and quality monitoring indicates that strong capabilities in methodology, quality management, and relevant expertise would be crucial for competition. Firms with a proven track record in delivering assurance services and a robust understanding of the Housing Benefit Assurance Process are well-positioned to engage in future opportunities stemming from DWP's ongoing needs in this sector.

## Notice

This notice is to inform of the award of a contract for the provision of Quality Assurance Monitoring of the Housing Benefit Assurance Process for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

### Lot Information

Lot 1

DWP was seeking a supplier able to access and review accountancy firms carrying out Housing Benefit Assurance Process (HBAP) engagements to provide independent challenge and bring cross sector experience of best practice to bear in support of the DWP Housing Benefit Assurance Team. The quality assurance engagement is expected to fall into two broad areas of work: - the development, issue and review of a questionnaire to test accountancy firms are using correct versions of HBAP modules, and adequate internal controls are in place within each firm to ensure the correct and consistent application of HBAP. This may involve a review of supporting evidence such as internal documentation and guidance for Reporting Accountants and management checks. The supplier may undertake visits to individual accountancy firms in order to carry out the reviews. - to sample a selection of HBAP reports and supporting working papers from the accountancy firms to ensure HBAP modules are being fully and correctly completed, and findings from the HBAP testing are being fully and accurately reflected in HBAP reports as per the DWP's testing instructions contained within HBAP Modules. This may require site visits to accountancy firms, but should not entail visits to individual Local Authorities (LAs). The intention is to run an annual exercise to review HBAP. The HBAP process concludes each year on 30th November which is the statutory deadline for completed HBAP reports and amended subsidy claims to be submitted to DWP by accountancy firms and LAs. The contract length covers a period of 1 year and 1 month - and includes audit reporting for 3 accounting periods.

### Procurement Information

We believe that there is not an active market of regulatory bodies with the powers or capacity to undertake this work. We believe that the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) are the only viable supplier for this area of work, given that they are the Recognised Supervisory Body (RSB) for all of the audit firms undertaking HBAP testing, and have the delegated authority to carry out the work from the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). The FRC website states that "Monitoring of ... [these types of] statutory audits is delegated by the FRC to Recognised Supervisory Bodies under a series of Delegation Agreements". For the purposes of local audits the two bodies that hold these delegated powers are the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), and the ICAEW. ICAS have confirmed that they do not believe they have responsibility for undertaking any quality monitoring work in respect of firms for which they are not the registered RSB. ICAEW are the registered RSB for all of the audit firms eligible to undertake HBAP testing, and for all of those who have been appointed by LAs. We issued a Voluntary Ex-Ante Transparency Notice (VEAT) notice to inform the market that we intended to award this contract to ICAEW if there were no responses from other companies. No responses were received as a result of the VEAT. We have therefore awarded this contract to The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/016548-2021 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 14 Jul 2021 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 22 Jun 2021 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £157,223 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Cancelled |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS |
| Locality | LEEDS |
| Post town | Leeds |
| Postcode | LS2 7UA |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLE Yorkshire and The Humber |
| ITL 2 | TLE4 West Yorkshire |
| ITL 3 | TLE42 Leeds |
| Local authority | Leeds |
| Electoral ward | Little London & Woodhouse |
| Westminster constituency | Leeds Central and Headingley |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | THE INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS IN ENGLAND AND WALES |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

### Codes

- 79212000 - Auditing services

## Release History

- 14 Jul 2021 at 21:45 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/016548-2021

## Notice URLs

- https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:042940-2020:TEXT:EN:HTML
- https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-02c816. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-02c816.json.