Welfare services for children and young people

Tender description

Hampshire County Council is seeking suitably qualified and experienced Independent Fostering Agencies who are able to provide foster care placements for children and young people with challenging behaviour and/or severe disabilities and/or complex healthcare needs and/or placements with a focus on reunification. The Framework Agreement will be for 4 years. The tender documents were available at https://in-tendhost.co.uk/hampshire/aspx/Home and provided in detail the service requirements and what providers were required to do to submit their tender. The tender is advertised under the Light Touch Regime using a bespoke process which is described in thissection. The tender will be evaluated in accordance with the requirements of The Public Contracts Regulations 2015, and we will treat all submissions in line with the principles of transparency, equal treatment and non-discrimination. The tenders will be assessed on the grounds of the most economically advantageous tender that meets expectations against the tender requirements (also known as MEAT). Stage 1. Will require the completion of the Tender Questionnaire which will be used to assess eligibility of the provider to perform the Framework Agreement. The responses to the online Fostering Partnership Eligibility Questionnaire will be evaluated first. Submissions which receive a ‘Fail’ at this stage will not be evaluated further. Providers will be required to explain how they will meet the requirements of the service in providing foster care placements for children and young people presenting with challenging behaviour and Tender Returns will be evaluated in terms of the providers ability to meet the quality criteria and price. The Tender Return will be evaluated by a tender panel who will give each section of the response a score ofeither ‘Meets requirements’ score or ‘Does not meet requirements’. For a ‘Meets requirements’ score providers will receive a ‘Pass’, for a ‘Does not meet requirements’ score providers will receive a ‘Fail’. A ‘Does notmeet requirements’ submission is one which has left one or more elements of the question unanswered or has provided an answer which does not address the question. Submissions which receive a ‘Does not meet requirements’ score on any of the quality questions will fail the quality assessment and will not proceed to stage 2 of the evaluation. The Council reserves the right to ask Tenderers for clarification where the tender panel is unable to evaluate a part of a tender due to unclear or ambiguous information. Costs for each of the lots with the cost breakdown will be used to assess the financial competitiveness of the tender. The cost breakdown will be used to understand your pricing structure and the cost of delivering the placement. The evaluation at stage 1 will be used to shortlist to a minimum of six providers per lot. However, we reserve the right to take more providers through to stage 2, where the percentage difference between the sixth provider being shortlisted and those being excluded are less than 2 %, these providers will also be included. Stage 2. At stage 2 providers will be invited to meet with Lead Panel members. The purpose of these meetings is to: — achieve a greater understanding of the respective positions of the Council and yourselves and to ensure a shared understanding of the cost model, — allow bidders to discuss and develop their proposed cost model in consultation with the Council. Providers will be requested to submit final pricing and will be given a week to provide their final price submission. The price submission will account for 100 % of the score. Providers will not be permitted to increase the price quoted at the second stage of the tender by more than 2 % and any increase within the permitted allowance must be justified. The score will be used to rank providers from the highest score through to the lowest score and the Framework Agreement will be awarded to a minimum of 3 providers per lot. The Council reserves the right to award the Framework Agreement to fewer than 3 providers where less than 3 providers proceed to the final evaluation. The tender is advertised under the Light Touch Regime using a bespoke process which is described in thissection. The tender will be evaluated in accordance with the requirements of The Public Contracts Regulations 2015, and we will treat all submissions in line with the principles of transparency, equal treatment and non-discrimination. The tenders will be assessed on the grounds of the most economically advantageous tender that meets expectations against the tender requirements (also known as MEAT). Stage 1. Will require the completion of the Tender Questionnaire which will be used to assess eligibility of the provider to perform the Framework Agreement. The responses to the online Fostering Partnership Eligibility Questionnaire will be evaluated first. Submissions which receive a ‘Fail’ at this stage will not be evaluated further. Providers will be required to explain how they will meet the requirements of the service in providing foster care placements for children and young people with severe disabilities and complex healthcare needs and Tender Returns will be evaluated in terms of the providers ability to meet the quality criteria and price. The Tender Return will be evaluated by a tender panel who will give each section of the response a score of either ‘Meets requirements’ score or ‘Does not meet requirements’. For a ‘Meets requirements’ score providers will receive a ‘Pass’, for a ‘Does not meet requirements’ score providers will receive a ‘Fail’. A ‘Does not meet requirements’ submission is one which has left one or more elements of the question unanswered or has provided an answer which does not address the question. Submissions which receive a ‘Does not meet requirements’ score on any of the quality questions will fail the quality assessment and will not proceed to stage 2 of the evaluation. The Council reserves the right to ask Tenderers for clarification where the tender panel is unable to evaluate a part of a tender due to unclear or ambiguous information. Costs for each of the lots with the cost breakdown will be used to assess the financial competitiveness of the tender. The cost breakdown will be used to understand your pricing structure and the cost of delivering the placement. The evaluation at stage 1 will be used to shortlist to a minimum of six providers per lot. However, we reserve the right to take more providers through to stage 2, where the percentage difference between the sixth provider being shortlisted and those being excluded are less than 2 %, these providers will also be included. Stage 2. At stage 2 providers will be invited to meet with Lead Panel members. The purpose of these meetings is to: — achieve a greater understanding of the respective positions of the Council and yourselves and to ensure a shared understanding of the cost model, — allow bidders to discuss and develop their proposed cost model in consultation with the Council. Providers will be requested to submit final pricing and will be given a week to provide their final price submission. The price submission will account for 100 % of the score. Providers will not be permitted to increase the price quoted at the second stage of the tender by more than 2 % and any increase within the permitted allowance must be justified. The score will be used to rank providers from the highest score through to the lowest score and the Framework Agreement will be awarded to a minimum of 3 providers per lot. The Council reserves the right to award the Framework Agreement to fewer than 3 providers where less than 3 providers proceed to the final evaluation. The tender is advertised under the Light Touch Regime using a bespoke process which is described in this section. The tender will be evaluated in accordance with the requirements of The Public Contracts Regulations 2015, and we will treat all submissions in line with the principles of transparency, equal treatment and non-discrimination. The tenders will be assessed on the grounds of the most economically advantageous tender that meets expectations against the tender requirements (also known as MEAT). Stage 1. Will require the completion of the Tender Questionnaire which will be used to assess eligibility of the provider to perform the Framework Agreement. The responses to the online Fostering Partnership Eligibility Questionnaire will be evaluated first. Submissions which receive a ‘Fail’ at this stage will not be evaluated further. Providers will be required to explain how they will meet the requirements of the service in providing foster care placements which focus on the reunification of children and young people to their family home and Tender Returns will be evaluated in terms of the providers ability to meet the quality criteria and price. The Tender Return will be evaluated by a tender panel who will give each section of the response a score of either ‘Meets requirements’ score or ‘Does not meet requirements’. For a ‘Meets requirements’ score providers will receive a ‘Pass’, for a ‘Does not meet requirements’ score providers will receive a ‘Fail’. A ‘Does not meet requirements’ submission is one which has left one or more elements of the question unanswered or has provided an answer which does not address the question. Submissions which receive a ‘Does not meet requirements’ score on any of the quality questions will fail the quality assessment and will not proceed to stage 2 of the evaluation. The Council reserves the right to ask Tenderers for clarification where the tender panel isunable to evaluate a part of a tender due to unclear or ambiguous information. Costs for each of the lots with the cost breakdown will be used to assess the financial competitiveness of the tender. The cost breakdown will be used to understand your pricing structure and the cost of delivering the placement. The evaluation at stage 1 will be used to shortlist to a minimum of six providers per lot. However, we reserve the right to take more providers through to stage 2, where the percentage difference between the sixth provider being shortlisted and those being excluded are less than 2 %, these providers will also be included. Stage 2. At stage 2 providers will be invited to meet with Lead Panel members. The purpose of these meetings is to: — achieve a greater understanding of the respective positions of the Council and yourselves and to ensure ashared understanding of the cost model; — allow bidders to discuss and develop their proposed cost model in consultation with the Council. Providers will be requested to submit final pricing and will be given a week to provide their final price submission. The price submission will account for 100 % of the score. Providers will not be permitted to increase the price quoted at the second stage of the tender by more than 2 % and any increase within the permitted allowance must be justified. The score will be used to rank providers from the highest score through to the lowest score and the Framework Agreement will be awarded to a minimum of 3 providers per lot. The Council reserves the right to award the Framework Agreement to fewer than 3 providers where less than 3 providers proceed to the final evaluation.