Cambridgeshire County Council Children’s External Placements Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS)

Tender description

Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) (The “Authority”) invites potential providers to join their Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) for the supply of services in respect of children’s external placements. The services include: Lot 1: Provision of Independent Fostering Agencies (IFA) Lot 2: Provision of Residential Children’s Homes Lot 3: Provision of Independent Schools and Education providers (ISEP) Lot 4: Provision of Out of School Tuition (OoST) These services will be available to children and young people aged 0-18 (up to 19 for children and adults with Special educational needs and disability - SEND) in Cambridgeshire, neighbouring authorities and where directed by specific care plans, nationally. The successful Providers will be responsible for providing this service and liaising closely with the Contract Manager identified by the Authority. As those services fall under the Light Touch Regime, the DPS will be open in rounds. The initial “Round” for this DPS will be open for 30 calendar days. Following on from this, subsequent Rounds will then be opened at NCC’s discretion. This means that Applications can be submitted throughout the duration of the DPS, but the Authority will only process the applications when the Round is closed. The tender is led by Cambridgeshire County Council, however Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council (PCC) have made strategic decision to combine roles and departments to manage services across both local authorities. Peterborough will have access to the DPS in their own right. The DPS is open for an initial term of five (5) years commencing on 1st April 2019 and ending on 31st March 2024 with the options to extend for an initial period of two (2) years, then after further review, for another two-year-period to a final one (1) year extension (5+2+2+1), up to a maximum of ten (10) years from the date of the original contract date. The anticipated spend across PCC and CCC for the duration of the DPS is £470,184,791.00. The spend is across the two local authorities for all four lots as listed above, however it the local authorities’ intention to reduce this spend through application of the new DPS, improving outcomes for individual children and the use of the mini competitions within the DPS over its life time. Keywords: school, fostering, residential, children, tuition, education