Provision of services to the community

Tender description

To procure a service to support low-income families raising disabled or seriously ill children and young people by providing them with grants and support to improve their quality of life and ease additional daily pressures, on top of their statutory entitlements. We expect the service to: help families identify the additional support they need, including signposting other services or entitlements; provide them with grant funding to pay for or otherwise provide specific goods and services to meet key needs; expand outreach in disadvantaged areas to ensure families who need support most are receiving it; and provide research and evaluation to the department on the needs and experiences of families. This recognises that some families of children and young people with disabilities face additional costs. The Government has provided funding for such grants and support since the 1970s as part of its overall package of support for families raising children with disabilities and serious illness. The potential competition if a decision is made to proceed is expected to commence in October 2020 for the provision, which is due to run for up to 3 years from April 2021. We are undertaking an exercise with a deadline of 15 September 2020 to test market views on areas such as: • would your organisation be interested in bidding for these services? would you expect to submit a tender as a single supplier, consortium, framework, lots, managed service or any other appropriate vehicle? • what requirements relating to any potential social, economic and environmental benefits from this work do you think should be stipulated in the specification? • do you believe a contract of this scale is workable, or would competition increase if it were broken down into smaller constituent parts? If so, how would you suggest breaking it down? • what will be the key challenges and risks in delivering this programme? • do you feel the estimated costings given are sufficient to manage the potential provision? What are the key cost pressures? • are there other opportunities to improve signposting and support to low-income families of children and young people who are disabled or seriously ill that you consider could be included in this package? • with the DfE and all government departments driving for continual efficiencies, forward looking challenges/risks and delivering savings, do you feel these requirements are achievable?