Buildings Insurance - Zurich

The new 1 year Contract is being awarded to Zurich pursuant to the "single supplier - technical reasons" direct award justification in paragraph 6 of Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023, for the reasons set out below.

Zurich is ISHA's current provider of the insurances to be provided under the new 1 year Contract. Such insurances include building insurance, which accounts for the large majority of the overall annual premium payable. The data that ISHA holds in relation to its housing stock is currently imperfect and incomplete in a number of respects, particularly in relation to building safety matters. This issue is compounded by the fact that ISHA has a disproportionate exposure to building safety issues within its stock, given its portfolio contains 10 Higher Risk Buildings and a further 36 buildings above 11m in height. ISHA believes that these factors, coupled with current market conditions, would make it extremely difficult for a new insurance provider to submit a commercially attractive or viable offer for ISHA's insurance requirements at this point in time, while gaps in ISHA's data remain. ISHA is working to improve the data it holds, but in the meantime wishes to continue with its existing provider, Zurich, for a further year from 1 November 2026, due to the knowledge it has of ISHA's stock, issues and requirements and the commercial proposal it has been able to put forward for the renewal.

For the reasons set out above, ISHA is of the view that if it were to put the new 1 year Contract out to competitive tender in accordance with PA 2023 genuine competition for it would be absent, because it would be very difficult for another insurance provider to compete with Zurich's offer for the Contract, and thereby provide a reasonable alternative. Accordingly, ISHA believes that a direct award to Zurich is justified under the "single supplier - technical reasons" ground in this case.