Summary The report proposes awarding a contract to Barnet Centre for Independent Living (BCIL) for the provision of External Support Planning and Brokerage (ESPB) following competitive tender. In the context of personalisation, Support Planning refers to self-directed support and the activity of assisting customers to develop a support plan which identifies how assessed needs (for those customers who are FACS-eligible1) and outcomes will be met. Support planning activities can include:

• Advice, information, guidance and signposting; and

• Identification of various options (services, networks, providers and so on) Brokerage is a specific term to describe the activity of assisting people to obtain support services, including:

ACTION TAKEN UNDER DELEGATED POWERS BY OFFICER 16 September 2015

Title

Contract Award for provision of External Support Planning and Brokerage to Barnet Centre for Independent Living

Report of Adults and Communities Director

Wards All Wards

Status Public

Enclosures Appendix 1 - Mobilisation Checklist and Action Plan

Officer Contact Details John Mason, Commissioning Lead 0208 3594945 John.mason@barnet.gov.uk

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• Advice, information, guidance and signposting

• Negotiation with support providers

• Assistance with set up of financial administration relating to services or providers (including personal assistants)

Support Planning and Brokerage can be undertaken by in-house staff and / or commissioned via external organisations. Adults & Communities’ vision is for external Support Planning and Brokerage to become the default for all but a relatively few number of customers with very complex needs. Key features of the proposed contract are:

• A decision by Adults and Communities Leadership Team to reserve the contract to organisations that employed a majority of people with disabilities. This is to ensure that the organisation that provides the (ESPB) service is delivered by staff with disabilities and / or whose life experiences are similar to customers i.e. peer support is a principle that is highly valued.

• The service specification for the contract being awarded is outcomes based. Because of this innovative approach it was decided to award a contract length of three years with provision to extend to allow for learning opportunities on both client and provider sides and to facilitate service development during the lifetime of the contract. The budget allocation for the three year contract is £438,000.

Note: 1 FACS means Fair Access to Care Services and is concerned with eligibility to receive Care Services.

Decision

Approval of award of contract for three years to Barnet Centre for Independent Living to provide external support planning and brokerage.

1. WHY THIS REPORT IS NEEDED 1.1 External Support Planning and Brokerage is a service external to the Council

that provides support to a person who meets the Fair Access to Care Services (FACS) eligibility criteria to plan how to meet their support needs and broker the support. The Council’s vision is that the service becomes the default option for all support planning and brokerage across all Adult service user groups. Utilising a peer support planning and brokerage model enables customers to have increased choice and control of their own support and provides more innovative and cost effective support.

1.2 The current contract expires on 30 September 2014 and BCIL have been the provider of the service from December 2010 to date. The origin of the External Support Planning and Brokerage service was the Right to Control Project that gave people the choice and control through personal budgets to self-direct their support. The contract was extended at the end of the project to review and plan for the development of the service before competitive procurement.

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1.3 There has been a competitive procurement exercise for the External Support

Planning and Brokerage service and following this process a decision was made to award the contract to Barnet Centre for Independent Living (BCIL).

2. REASONS FOR DECISIONS

2.1 A decision was made by the Leadership Team in Adults and Communities to

use Article 19 of the Procurement Directive 2004/18/EC which restricts the tender to organisations employing a majority of people with disabilities i.e. a peer support model. Empirical evidence shows that peer support planning and brokerage to be an invaluable asset to the process of support planning because it provides an opportunity for customers to self-direct their own support. The contract length is 3 years plus 2 subject to satisfactory performance and budget to enable the necessary service development to take place during the lifetime of the contract.

2.2 The Council carried out a tender process in accordance with corporate procurement rules to ensure that tenders are evaluated fairly and the resulting contract is awarded to the bidder that demonstrates the most economically advantageous tender. This is determined by combining a quality evaluation of the tender submission and an evaluation of the proposed price. The decision to award the contract is based on who had the highest combined score following evaluation of the written submissions, presentation / interview, consensus evaluation by a Council panel and an evaluation of the proposed price.

2.3 The Tender Process

2.3.1 The table below sets out a summary of the procurement timetable

Event /Stage Date

Advertise the opportunity 26.6.14

Deadline for receipt of tenders 11.8.14

Individual Evaluation by Panel members

19.08.14

Presentation /Interview by organisations

27.08.14

Consensus decision by Panel 28.08.14

Council Decision 15.09.14

Contract service commencement date

01.10.14

2.3.2 The Officer Panel comprised:

• Service Manager for Older People

• Commissioning Lead for Long Term conditions

• Team Leader for People with Learning Disabilities and

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• Commissioning Lead for People with Mental Health issues The Panel was set up to manage the tender and evaluate the tender submissions with support and oversight from Corporate Procurement. This ensured the necessary protocols for the tender process were followed.

2.3.3 The Panel followed Council procurement procedures and set the questions,

allocation of scores and presentation questions. 2.3.4 There were 15 expressions of interest for the tender on the Barnet sourcing

web portal. 2.3.5 On the closing date for submissions there were 2 tenders that had been

submitted. They were received from Barnet Centre for Independent Living and Provider B.

2.3.6 There were two stages to the tender evaluation, the qualifying and selection

stages where bidders needed to score 50% or more to pass and progress to be evaluated at the award stage.

2.3.7 The qualifying and selection stage included economic and financial records;

experience and contract examples; quality assurance; health and safety and selection questions regarding the experience of delivering support planning and brokerage services.

2.3.8 The award stage was scored on an evaluation of quality using a number of

questions to be answered by the organisations including a presentation and interview and evaluation of price through a pricing schedule.

Scoring mechanism for Award stage

Criteria Weighting

Quality Evaluation 60%

Price Evaluation 40%

Scoring system

Score Scoring Guidance

0 Completely fails to meet required standard or does not provide a proposal.

1 Proposal significantly fails to meet the standards required, contains significant shortcomings and/or is inconsistent with other proposals.

2 Proposal falls short of achieving expected standard in a number of identifiable respects.

3 Proposal meets the required standard in most material respects, but is lacking or inconsistent in others.

4 Proposal meets the required standard in all material respects and delivers added value for money to the Authority.

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Quality: The criteria used for weightings for evaluating quality are shown in table below

Quality criteria Weighting within overall quality score

A) Service Delivery Questions focused on the delivery of the service model, quality improvement, innovation in the development of the service and social capital.

25 %

B) Service Outcomes and Outputs Questions focussed on social care outcomes, how the service would meet these outcomes and for the providers to indicate the numbers of people using the service over the three years.

20 %

C)Staffing Competencies, Training and Development Questions focussed on the calibre of the staff team, training and development needs; recruitment and selection; maintenance of a stable workforce.

15 %

D) Partnership Working Questions focused on the development of partnerships in delivering the service and previous experience of partnership working; inclusion of people with learning disabilities and people with autism and their family/carers in the delivery of the service; involvement of mainstream organisations and other support systems to add value to the service.

15 %

E) Mobilisation, Transition, Risk Management and Contingency Planning Questions focussed on the implementation plan and risk management.

10 %

F) Service Quality, Safety and Safeguarding Questions focussed on sustaining quality standards and safeguarding.

10 %

Presentation and Interview 5%

Total 100%

The total quality score was multiplied by 0.6 to take account of the 60% weighting when combined with the score for price.

The bids were all scored individually by each member of the tender evaluation panel. Following this a consensus meeting of the panel was held to agree the

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scoring of each bid and identify any further areas that require clarification following bidder’s presentations.

2.4 The price evaluation accounted for 40 per cent of the available score. The

prices submitted were evaluated using a pricing schedule the calculation is shown in the table below.

Tender Presentation: the two bidders were invited to present their bid to the officer panel and answer supplementary questions from the presentation. The presentation question was a scenario based question: •“You have been awarded the contract and have been providing the service for one year. Explain to us what will a successful service look like and the evidence to demonstrate the success.”

The additional questions following evaluation of the tender documents submitted were focussed on:

• referrals

• ensuring the service is attractive and relevant to all customers

• delivery of a service that keeps people well and independent

• best value

• learning from delivery of such services 2.5 Consensus: Following the tender presentation the Officer tender panel

revisited the scoring of the tender bids and reached agreement on the final scoring.

Stages Method

The mean price among all bidders meeting the required Quality standard threshold is calculated.

Sum of Prices divided by the number of bids submitted

Calculate the % difference between the actual price and mean

Sum of Price – Mean Price x 100 Mean Price

The mean is given the value of 50. 1 point is deducted / added from the score of each bidder for each percentage point above/below the mean.

% Difference x –1 (Round to nearest whole number) + Mean Value (50)

Multiply price score by the agreed weighting for price.

Points Score (x) 40%

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2.6 Final Scores: The table below shows the weighted scores for each question:

Tender Name Weighted Price Score

Weighted Quality Score

Overall

Barnet Centre for Independent Living

20.90 42.30 63.20

Provider B

19.10 31.05 50.15

2.7 The tender evaluation scoring shows that Barnet Centre for Independent

Living submitted the strongest bid.

2.8 The Panel recommends that Barnet Centre for Independent Living be awarded the contract for the provision of External Support Planning and Brokerage from 1st October 2014 for three years with an option to extend for a further 2 years subject to budget and satisfactory performance

3. ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED AND REJECTED 3.1 Not applicable

4. POST DECISION IMPLEMENTATION

4.1 There will be a mobilisation/implementation period for the provider to plan for the implementation of the service delivery. The draft Mobilisation Plan for the service is attached as Appendix 1.

5. IMPLICATIONS OF DECISION

5.1 Corporate Priorities and Performance

5.1.1 The Barnet Council 2013-16 Corporate Plan sets out the Council’s

Corporate priorities and the service supports the following objectives.

• To provide a healthy, active, independent and informed over 55 population in the borough to encourage and support our residents to age well.

5.2 Resources (Finance & Value for Money, Procurement, Staffing, IT,

Property, Sustainability)

5.2.1 The budget allocated per annum is £146,000 from the bid submission – the funding for this contract is from Adults and Communities base budget (Care Services Delivery). Therefore the budget allocation for the three year contract is £438,000. If the contract was to be extended subject to satisfactory performance and budget available this would be a budget

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allocation of £730,000 at the current budget per annum.

5.2.2 The service will deliver savings to the Council as the service will be providing more cost effective process of support planning and also more cost effective support plans by using universal and community services. This has been evidenced through the previous service. It is intended that external support planning and brokerage becomes the default option for all support plans and thus the numbers of people receiving the support will increase over the duration of the contract. It is intended that this is completed with an incremental approach.

5.2.3 The process to procure the service was agreed at Cabinet Resources Committee in November 2013 on the Contract Procurement Plan. The changes to the commissioning approach including reserved contract and length of contract term was agreed at the Adults and Communities Leadership Team on the 19th June 2014.

There were 15 expressions of interest but due to the reserved contract this meant that a number of organisations were unable to compete. There were 2 tender submissions received. The reserved contract stipulated that the tender was only open to those organisations with 50% of people with disabilities. This was to ensure that the service remained with a peer support model of planning and brokerage.

5.2.4 As a result of the procurement there are no TUPE implications for staff working for the current provider. Tenderers were provided with all TUPE information as part of the tender process.

5.2.5 Value for money has been determined by evaluating the quality of each

providers bid against a pricing schedule. Through this process it has been possible to determine the provider that will provide both the highest quality service as well as maximising the resources available to provide direct support to service users. This ensures the provider that is awarded the contract is delivering a service which offers the highest quality and best value for money for Barnet residents

5.3 Legal and Constitutional References

5.3.1 The services proposed fall under Annexe B of Schedule 3 to The Public

Contracts Regulations 2006 (as amended) and therefore, were not subject to the full EU tendering rules.

5.3.2 The procurement remains subject to the Treaty provisions of equal

treatment, fairness and non-discrimination. The tendering process ensured that these requirements were met.

5.3.3 As the new service is launched, the existing contract with the organisation

currently delivering the service end, in accordance with the provisions of the relevant contract.

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5.3.4 Where the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment)

Regulations 2006 (‘TUPE’) apply, in the circumstances identified in paragraph 5.3.3 above, the contract with the new provider will, therefore, include appropriate obligations in respect of the provider’s responsibilities under TUPE. The Council’s role is to facilitate and oversee the supply of appropriate information during the procurement process and following contract award. There are no TUPE implications.

5.3.5 Council Constitution, Part 4, Contract Procedure Rules, Section 11.1

Acceptance of the contract is subject to budgetary provision; a compliant procurement process and confirmation of acceptable financial status of the service provider. Appendix 1, Table A details the acceptance thresholds. As the contract value is greater than £172,514 and within budget the acceptance is by Officer in consultation with Chair of Adults and Safeguarding Committee.

5.4 Risk Management

5.4.1 The commissioning of this service is unlikely to raise significant levels of public concern as the service is already in operation and this is the next stage in the service development.

5.4.2 There are no risks to the Council with regards to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (“TUPE”).

5.4.3 As part of the tender , providers were asked to submit an implementation plan for initiating the service, including:

• Timeframe for setting up the service, details of activities and relevant staff responsibilities

• Transition planning from old service to new

• Key risks with initiating the contract and how these will be managed by the Provider

5.4.4 The bidder’s implementation and risk plans were tested as part of the

tender presentations. Following agreement of the contract award the plan will be finalised with the successful bidder and key stakeholders

5.4.5 Alongside the implementation and risk plan, a Performance Framework based on the Health and Social Care Outcomes and informed by the providers tender, will be agreed prior to initiating the service. The service specification includes performance and outcome measures that will continue to be monitored and reviewed through the contract management process.

5.5 Equalities and Diversity

5.5.1 The contract for the service will include explicit requirements fully covering the Council’s duties under equalities legislation.

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5.5.2 The contract will require the provider to have a high standard of equitable behaviours. This includes compliance with Equal Opportunities Legislation, operating an equal opportunities policy observing Codes of Practice issued by the Commission for Equality and Human Rights, and giving appropriate consideration to each customer’s race, nationality, cultural or ethnic background, marital status, age, gender, sexual orientation and disabilities.

5.6 Consultation and Engagement

5.6.1 There will be communications on the new service by the Provider. This is

included in the mobilisation plan.

6. BACKGROUND PAPERS

6.1 The procurement of this service is in the Contract Procurement Plan from Cabinet Resources Committee on 4.11.2013 Item 14.

6.2 Relevant tender documentation is available by contacting John Mason, Commissioning Lead, Adults and Communities.

7. DECISION TAKER’S STATEMENT

7.1 I have the required powers to make the decision documented in this report. I

am responsible for the report’s content and am satisfied that all relevant advice has been sought in the preparation of this report and that it is compliant with the decision making framework of the organisation which includes Constitution, Scheme of Delegation, Budget and Policy Framework and Legal issues including Equalities obligations.

8. OFFICER’S DECISION I authorise the following action 8.1 To agree the award of a contract for the provision of an External Support

Planning and Brokerage Service to people who are eligible for Social Care services to Barnet Centre for Independent Living from 1 October2014 for a period of three years with an option to extend for a further 2 years subject to satisfactory performance and funding, at a cost of £438,000 for three years.

Signed

Adults and Communities Director

Date 16th September 2014

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Appendix 1

Mobilisation Checklist and Action Plan

Item

Action Date Who

Transition Plan /Implementation Plan

To implement the Transition Plan following agreement with the Council

October 2014 BCIL/JCT

Communications including Publicity for re launch

Implementation of communications plan following agreement with the Council

October 2014 BCIL

Pricing /Quantity of Support Plans

From Pricing Schedule and Tender submission

October 2014 BCIL

Development of service over the lifetime of contract

To agree milestones and targets over lifetime of contract

From October 2014 JCT /BCIL

Performance measures

To agree the key performance indicators for the service from Service Specification

From October 2014 JCT/BCIL

Work with Council on referrals

To agree process and protocol between provider and Council

From October 2014 Care services Delivery/ BCIL

Contract Management

Monitoring of service by xx on a xx basis

From October 2014 Team to be decided