The appointment of Internal Auditors

Description

First Garden Cities Homes (FGCH), a Registered Provider of Social Housing based in Letchworth Garden City and Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, intends to appoint a firm to act as its outsourced internal audit function from 1 April 2027. The current contract reaches its natural end on 31/03/2027. The appointed firm will report to FGCH's Audit & Risk Committee and provide independent, objective assurance over governance, risk management and internal control. The services include a risk-based strategic and annual internal audit plan, delivery of the agreed programme of reviews, follow-up of agreed actions through a recommendation tracker, attendance at Audit & Risk Committee meetings as required, support to counter-fraud arrangements, and an annual internal audit opinion timed to inform the Board's annual assurance to the Regulator of Social Housing. The contract will run for three years, with an option to extend once by a further two years. It will be a rate-based engagement: FGCH will appoint a team at a single composite day rate, with the volume of work commissioned annually by the Audit & Risk Committee. Following the regulatory judgement issued to FGCH in 2025, the Committee has set an elevated assurance requirement. The programme will therefore be broader in the next three years than is typical for a Registered Provider of FGCH's size, but it is expected to reduce in years 4 and 5 if an extension is agreed. The Procurement Act 2023 requires that consideration be given to dividing all contracts into lots. This contract will not be divided into lots. Internal audit must produce a single, integrated opinion on FGCH's framework of governance, risk management and control, from one audit provider. FGCH intends to use the Competitive Flexible Procedure as defined in s.20 of the Act comprising a written tender stage open to all suppliers, followed by a scored presentation to the selection panel, made up of Audit & Risk Committee members, for the highest-ranked tenderers. There will be no negotiation.