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Our plans to introduce on-line bidding for next year’s Approved Development Programme are moving towards full implementation. Although our experience of working closely with housing associations throughout the development process has been extremely positive, it is clear that some are concerned about the proposed changes and the pace at which we are embracing new technologies. We want to ensure that everyone feels they are up to speed with the new arrangements and confident that they know where to go for more information.

HousingCorp-Online is a secure, password-protected gateway to our Investment Management System, allowing registered social landlords to input their bids, grant claims, grant confirmations and query investment management information. From October onwards, the corporation will be designing and building additional on-line facilities, with the aim of migrating all investment processes onto the internet by April 2001.

We are taking these steps for two reasons. First, we want to improve our service to RSLs, cutting down on unnecessary bureaucracy and paperwork. Second, this work is just the first stage in an ambitious programme to make all our business systems completely accessible via the internet. The Modernising Government agenda has set government bodies stiff targets to provide on-line services by 2005. We want to beat those targets and are developing our e-business strategy which will set out the way in which we plan to achieve this goal. Alongside this, we are looking at what further streamlining of our administrative processes we can achieve.

A successful testing programme has been taking place with associations throughout the summer. Open days have been held in each of the corporation’s regional offices throughout August to give associations the opportunity to use the system for training.

We have had an extremely positive response from RSLs who have taken part in these events, from those who have seen our demonstrations of HousingCorp-Online at conferences and from those who have been involved in the pilot. The forthcoming NHF Annual Conference in Birmingham will also be used to further raise awareness of the system through live demonstrations.

We have produced a list of common questions and answers that RSLs have been asking us during the pilot, at conferences and during regional open days - this can be found on our business website, www.HousingCorp-Online.org.

We have been made aware that some RSLs are not ready to use the internet in order to send bids to us this year. Therefore we have been considering what contingency arrangements need to be put in place. We have an agreement with the Almshouse Association and Abbeyfield Society that these bodies will assist their members in making bids. We also have the agreement of the National Housing Federation that they will provide assistance by making internet-ready PCs available to members in all of their regional offices.

Some RSLs without internet access have not been able to download some of the key documentation needed for the bidding process and therefore copies of the Guide to the Allocation Process and the TCI and Grant Rates Booklet can be obtained free of charge from our headquarters (tel: 020 7393 2019). RSLs anticipating having difficulties in submitting bids despite these arrangements should contact our project manager Doreen Wright at Housing.Corporation@housingcorp.gsx.gov.uk or on 020 7393 2191.

The HousingCorp-Online service will be provided by FutureLink Europe, who will support the system via a help desk between the hours 09.00 to 17:30 on weekdays. The system will be available 24 hours a day seven days a week, except for scheduled down times for system maintenance, but unsupported outside of normal office hours. Details of scheduled down times will be published on www.HousingCorp-Online.org. The target date for the bids system to go live is 18 September 2000 and the final date for submission of bids is 20 October 2000.

Due to the significant cost implications of concurrent usage, we have capped the numbers using the system at any one time to 300 during October. This means the 301st user will be unable to access the system until other RSLs have logged off. In order to manage this further, we have implemented a system time-out of 15 minutes; anyone logged onto the system but not using it will be automatically timed out.

We hope RSLs will make use of the system throughout the bidding period. However, we will be monitoring usage daily and if we experience a significant peak during the last two weeks, we will need to consider whether to limit usage. Information on any measures required will be published on our websites.

We have already contacted all RSLs expected to bid this year in order to set up the registration process needed for RSLs to access our systems. If you have not received these registration details or require further information or advice about HousingCorp-Online, please contact Doreen Wright.

Obviously we, and RSLs, will learn from this exercise. We will be evaluating the success of the bidding process and feeding those lessons into the further development of our facilities. But we are confident that we will achieve our aims of introducing our new systems on time, on budget and of providing a better service to our customers.