Provision of Quantity Surveying and Engineering Technical Support Services for the THRIVE and Social Housing Schemes, including FNLC Advisory Support

The Northern and Western Regional Assembly (the Contracting Authority), in its role as Managing Authority, requires the provision of Quantity Surveying and/or Engineering services to support the delivery of two European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)–funded schemes: THRIVE and the Social Housing Scheme (SHS), under the Northern and Western Regional Programme 2021–2027. Both THRIVE and SHS are capital grant schemes administered by the Managing Authority and delivered by Local Authorities within the Northern and Western Region. The schemes support the adaptive reuse and restoration of vacant and derelict buildings in Local Authority ownership.

The proposed technical support is intended to bolster and complement Local Authority delivery capacity. It does not duplicate or replace Local Authority responsibilities for project design, supervision, risk management, procurement, or contract administration. The scope of services to be provided to the Contracting Authority is structured under the following four headings: (1) Technical input to the evaluation of Social Housing Scheme (SHS) portfolio applications.

(2) Advisory support to the Contracting Authority (Managing Authority) on the development of a Financing Not Linked to Costs (FNLC) approach for both SHS and THRIVE. (3) Pre‑tender gateway technical review for projects under SHS and THRIVE. (4) Independent advisory support during the construction phase for projects under SHS and THRIVE.

It is framed to maintain a clear segregation of roles between beneficiaries (Local Authorities) and the Managing Authority (MA) (Contracting Authority), consistent with the MA's obligations under the EU Common Provisions Regulation (CPR), in particular Articles 72-74 (selection of operations, monitoring, and risk-based management verifications).