Health and social work services

Tender description

DfC intends to negotiate extensions to the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Assessment Services Lot 4 with the incumbent supplier. The proposed extension will have a term of approximately 2 years. The Contract was awarded pursuant to the Health and Disability Assessment Services Framework Agreement (referenced DWP_100255) which commenced in 2012 and expired in 2016. The Framework Agreement was procured pursuant to the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 as a Part B service. The Contract has a term of 5+1+1 years. DfC has exercised 1 year, 8 months and 10 days of this optional extension and is due to expire on 31.7.2019. The original Contract Award date and value is stated below. The Contract relates to the provision of ‘social and other specific services’ within the meaning of Schedule 3 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/102) (PCR) and are critical to the provision of statutory “PIP” welfare benefits. DfC are constantly looking at ways to continually improve the PIP service. Walter Radar in his independent review of PIP in Northern Ireland has set out numerous improvements for DfC to consider which includes the introduction of audio or visual recording of assessments. There have been improvements in the overall quality of assessments since go-live in June 2016 but there is still more to do to deliver the high quality of service those claiming PIP rightly expect. DfC will continue to work closely with stakeholder groups and our Assessment Providers to improve the quality of claimant communications, assessments, decision making and the overall claimant experience. It is vital for claimants that we continue to have a stable service. DfC considers it important to continue to make improvements to the end-to-end PIP service, including in response to recommendations from independent reviews. A stable PIP assessment service is vital in order to deliver improvements to the overall service. DWP (acting for and on and behalf of the Department for Communities) had originally intended to publish a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) in Spring 2018 for a re-procurement of the Contracts in accordance with Section 7 of the PCR. That timeline included a six month transition window prior to an envisaged full service commencement on 1.8.2019. DWP (acting for and on and behalf of DfC) has undertaken an extensive process of pre-market engagement and feasibility analysis (PME), including a number of supplier engagement events. Based on this PME, it was concluded that the IT and estate infrastructure needed to support the envisaged new contracts present substantial challenges to new market entrants. These challenges are compounded in the context of a 6 month transition period, which the DfC considers poses an unacceptable risk. DfC therefore considers it necessary to explore options to extend the Contract for approximately two years in order to: (i) provide sufficient time for a safe and stable transition of these complex and vitally important services, which support delivery of statutory welfare benefits to hundreds of thousands of vulnerable claimants each year; and (ii) allow DWP to develop, build, test and implement an IT solution (which the DfC will use) to support the new contract. Given that PIP is a critical statutory welfare benefit that caters for vulnerable people, a gap in service provision is not an option. DfC will continue to implement steps to secure further efficiencies and service improvements in the way that the existing Contracts are currently delivered and will monitor performance through this interim stage in order to demonstrate value for money. DfC in partnership with DWP intends to continue engaging with the market to discuss the future transition of the PIP assessment service and the future of health assessments more broadly. If you would like to participate in our market engagement process please contact Tony.wilkinson@communities-ni.gsi.gov.uk. For the reasons set out below, DfC considers the proposed extensions are permitted in accordance with the PCR.