STANDARD SELECTION QUESTIONNAIRE (SQ)An update from Sam Domican, CHIC’s Procurement Director
The Standard Selection Questionnaire (SQ) is an integral part of any procurement under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. It will remain so under the amended procurement rules being progressed through Parliament at the moment.

Cabinet Office has recently published a revised version of the SQ which is to be applied to procurements from 1st April 2023; it applies to all contracting authorities in England and to contracting authorities in Wales and Northern Ireland.

In summary, the new policy involves several changes to the current SQ. Some sections have been amended, others removed and new sections added. The amendments are based on feedback given to the Cabinet Office from buyers and suppliers in order to improve the supplier selection process.

CHIC Procurement has reviewed the changes and set up the new SQ on the CHIC eSourcing portal to ensure that we fully understand the changes and we are compliant for all new procurement published after 1st April deadline.

Further information and details on the changes are available on the CHIC website via a Procurement Advice Note [PAN 01-23] - Standard Questionnaire [SQ] – Update April 2023.

NEW ADDITION TO THE PROCUREMENT TEAM!Ade Osunsanmi started her position as our new Head of Procurement this month, to maintain a forward plan of CHIC’s new and replacement procurement requirements for frameworks and DPS solutions to meet our members requirements. We welcome Ade to the team and believe her vast experience in the sector will further strengthen our procurement services for CHIC members.
WE’RE RECRUITING
CHIC and its managing agent ARK Consultancy have 5 roles now open for applications.
To request a full Role Profile, or for any queries, please email recruitment@arkconsultancy.co.uk, clearly stating the job title of the role you are interested in.

ARK’s Communities & Housing Investment Consortium Team

COMMERCIAL COORDINATORCHIC | SALARY: negotiable £25k - £29kThe post holder will support the Head of Commercial Services, providing commercial, contract and technical advice and support for CHIC’s members across a wide range of construction and building safety related services.The ideal candidate will be in the early stages of their career in a construction or related role, with a qualification and interest in contracts and commercial contract management.

OPERATIONS COORDINATORCHIC | SALARY: negotiable £25k - £29k paWe are seeking a competent and experienced administrator to provide all elements of administrative support to a busy and results orientated operations team, providing comprehensive services for CHIC’s members.You will be experienced in the use of MS Office and used to taking responsibility for keeping accurate records and supporting the delivery of high quality outcomes.

PROCUREMENT OFFICER
CHIC | SALARY: negotiable £30k - £35k paThe post holder will support the procurement team to manage, administer and deliver the compliant procurement of new framework agreements, long term contracts and the Dynamic Purchasing System. You will have experience of procurement procedures and documentation and understand the need to deliver timely, accurate and compliant outcomes.
ARK Consultancy
BUILDING SURVEYORARK | SALARY: negotiable £35k - £40kAn enthusiastic and focused individual is required to (i) provide a ‘hands on’ facilities management service to our offices and two small property management companies in the Jewellery Quarter, and (ii) work as part of our asset management consultancy team, to support a wide range of asset management and building related consultancy assignments.Business travel will be required to deliver projects for our clients across the country.

GRADUATE DATA ANALYSTARK | SALARY: negotiable £25k - £29k paThe post holder will be part of ARK’s data management team, helping to manage ARK’s database of quantitative and qualitative information, benchmarking client data, carrying out market research, data analysis and supporting ARK’s strategic asset grading model as well as other data related activities as they arise.

MEET THE CONSORTIUM EVENT (NORTH)Thank you to all those who attended our first Meet the Consortium event in Chorley late last month. We hope you all enjoyed the event and found it interesting and beneficial.Although the snow may have delayed the event the first time round, it did go ahead on 31st March and was a great success. With existing members and potential new ones from across the North coming to see us, we were able to showcase the latest CHIC products and services and learn more about how to structure our Frameworks and DPS in the future, to ensure our products can be more widely utilised by our Northern members, as well as our existing members in the South.

Our main discussions focused around:- Frameworks and DPS required in the sector- How can we attract Northern Contractors & Suppliers

The thoughts and feedback from the morning will be discussed by the key stakeholders within CHIC and considered for future procurement activities.With the great success of the event, we are hoping to schedule more of these events in the future, so please keep an eye out for these in CHIC CHAT and on LinkedIn.

Comments from the day

Just wanted to say thanks for a great event, very informative, the team were approachable and knowledgeable, always good to be able to be involved in shaping future frameworks, look forward to working with you again soon. The bacon buttie was amazing too!Fiona, Bolton at Home

The event was a great opportunity to further understand all of CHIC’s new and existing solutions that are on offer, to network with peers from across other housing associations and to meet with members of the supply chain. It was an engaging event which also allowed for new and existing members to input ideas for the development of new frameworks and DPS to further improve CHIC’s offering.Sofia, Muir Group

Great to see some new and familiar faces and have a lively discussion about how CHIC can support more members in the North. Some great ideas came from the morning, and I look forward to putting these in front of the CHIC team. Thanks to everyone who came. Watch this space for more Meet the Consortium events and follow up meetings from the day.Jo Heyes, CHIC

If you would like to discuss how CHIC can help you with your 2023 Procurement Agenda, please contact one of the member services team at enquiries@chicltd.co.uk