Provision of an Interim MIST Service in the City of London

Description

The mobile intervention service provides peripatetic support to individuals identified rough sleeping in the City and subsequently placed into an emergency or temporary accommodation setting. A new government strategy on rough sleeping is focussing on ensuring every rough sleeper has an offer of accommodation and as such this service has been enhanced for the duration of this interim contract to meet increased demand.

Key facts

Procedure

Direct award

Lots

1

Contact

mohammad.mostafa@cityoflondon.gov.uk

020 7332 3819

Contract period

3 Nov 2026 → 31 Mar 2027

Value incl. VAT

£174k

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 Mobile Intervention Service in the City of London. The mobile intervention service provides peripatetic support to individuals identified rough sleeping in the City and subsequently placed into an emergency or temporary accommodation setting. A new government strategy on rough sleeping is focussing on ensuring every rough sleeper has an offer of accommodation and as such this service has been enhanced for the duration of this interim contract to meet increased demand. This direct award has been necessitated by: • The withdrawal of the tender for a City of London Street Homelessness Outreach and Support Service • The new direction from central government under the Prime Minister’s strategy to end rough sleeping known as the “Rough Sleeping Program” The previous tender for the Outreach service, and which the MIST service was to form part of, 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 government’s 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 2nd October 2026. Due to there being an 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. As such a change in supplier would result in practice and personnel changes that, both in operation and in terms of service availability over this critical period, would result in difficulties and disruption that would by its very nature be disproportionate to the alternative of a competitive process for an interim award. Given that the winter period 2026 is now crucial in terms of delivering the prime minister’s new strategy for rough sleeping and given that the City of London is under enhanced scrutiny under this program, the argument for service continuity is strengthened. 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.