Provision of an Interim Outreach Service in the City of London

Description

The City of London Corporation has historically contracted a Street Outreach service to identify and support rough sleepers within the Square Mile. Since 2018, the Central Government has made specific funding available to address street homelessness across the United Kingdom and the current Outreach Service, alongside the related services, has benefited from the addition of these resources to boost its reach and effectiveness.

Key facts

Procedure

Direct award

Lots

1

Contact

CityProc.Operations@cityoflondon.gov.uk

020 7606 3030

Contract period

3 Nov 2026 → 31 Mar 2027

Value incl. VAT

£322k

Category

services

Awarded suppliers

• Thames Reach Charity · GB-COH-10098652 · UKI44, GBVCSE

Ground given for limiting competition

The buyer’s own stated reason for awarding without open competition, as published. Their assertion, not a finding.

To direct award a short term interim contract to Thames Reach for the continued provision of a Street Outreach Service in the City of London. This direct award would act as a defacto extension to the current service pending the ongoing procurement of a new Street Homelessness Outreach and Support Service and as such the service would operate to the existing service specification and KPIs. The previous tender for this service has recently been abandoned in accordance with Section 55 of the Procurement Act 2023 (PA2023), and a UK12 (Procurement Termination Notice) was published on Jagger 02 October 2026. The justification for the abandonment being a significant change in the governments strategy and funding for addressing rough sleeping, making the tendered service out of step with the new direction. Members were informed by email of the decision to abandon the procurement on the 2 nd October 2026. Due to there being a now unavoidable gap between the conclusion of the current contracts and the target start date for the new service, a change in supplier would cause significant disruption over the Winter, which is a critical time for Street Homelessness Outreach Services. Directly award a short term new contract to Thames Reach Charity in accordance with Section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023 (as amended by secondary legislation) using the justification no 7 “Additional or repeat goods services or works” set out in Schedule 5 thereof.