Direct Award of Contracts for Services for People with Complex Needs

Tender description

Torbay Council has embarked on a new and locally experimental alliance model of commissioning services for complex adults. The scope includes drug and alcohol treatment services, domestic abuse and sexual violence services and supported housing. Because of the novel nature of commissioning and procuring these services, a number of aspects were untested and a comprehensive level of rigour had to be applied to establish the process and requirements, including significant engagement with suppliers, service users and other key stakeholders. It was anticipated that any new service contracts would commence on 01 October 2020 and new short-term contracts were put in place with existing providers, following publication of VEAT notice 2019/S 053-123016. 2 / 7. Work with the market and other stakeholders to establish the Alliance principles and model commenced in March 2019, during this time a new Council administration was put in place, resulting in a further period of consultation with elected members. This change in administration impacted on timescales for decision making and agreement of budgets and meant the planned start date of 01 October 2020 could not be achieved. A revised timeline for the project was established with tender issue planned for May 2020. To enable the alliance to properly establish and develop service delivery models a an anticipated contract start date of 06 June 2021 was identified. It became apparent the Council would not be able to meet this timescale due to the impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Key Council staff in the Public Health / Adult Social Care teams, along with organisations who would be bidding for this contract are at the frontline in responding to the emergency, making it difficult to commit the necessary resource to this work. It is essential current service providers and others on the front-line are supported to continue delivering services to our most vulnerable at this time and the made the decision to defer procurement until such time as there is sufficient capacity and resource available to allow for a robust process to be undertaken. Commencement of the tender process was delayed by 6 months to November 2020, with a view to service delivery commencing in December 2021. The Council directly awarded contracts to its incumbent providers to ensure continuation of service and provide stability in the system until this innovative procurement is undertaken, as follows: • Drugs and Alcohol (Torbay & South Devon NHSFT) • Leonard Stocks Hostel Provision (Langley House Trust) • Torbay Domestic Abuse Services (Sanctuary Supported Living) Contracts are in place for a minimum of 15 months, with an option to extend for a period of up to a further 6 months in the event the current emergency did not allow for commencement of the tender process within the timescales indicated above. The tender was issued on 04 November 2020, with an extended submission deadline of 30 April 2021 due to the ongoing uncertainties around recovery pandemic to afford providers maximum opportunity to bid. On 25 January 2021 we received requests from 2 existing providers to further extend the submission deadline, due to continued uncertainties at the time regarding lockdown duration and the recovery process. We recognised when the lockdown ended there would be a period of recovery activity required before bidders could fully focus the necessary resource on submissions. It would have been unfair to deny any applicant the opportunity to bid and due to the importance of this project we wish to enable the submission of a good level of high quality bids. The submission deadline has therefore been extended by 9 months, to 31 January 2022. This will delay the operationalisation of services and delivery will need to continue beyond current contract end dates. This has resulted in a need to make further direct awards of contracts to our incumbents for the period 05 May 2022-30 January 2023, with an option to extend to 30 April 2023.