DN597738 GP Liaison Service

Tender description

Originally the Carer GP Liaison Service started as a pilot project for a fixed period until June 2020. It was then extended by way of an exemption under the CSO’s, for 12 months, the intention being to allow for a procurement process for the services to be undertaken. The existing agreement ended on 30 June 2021, with the provider continuing to deliver services in line with the existing agreement. The Council requires a new agreement reflecting effective date for the delivery of the services for this contract be 1 July 2021, until 30th June 2022, to align with the re-procurement of Carers Services. The pandemic has resulted in major disruptions to commissioning, primarily in regard to: ability of providers to respond to invitations to tender because of furloughed capacity or illness; redeployed capacity in the local authority or provider organisations into essential frontline functions to save lives during the pandemic and lack of access to specialist technical resource. This has built in a time lag to ordinary scheduled procurement and commissioning activity of up to 12 months, leading to review of contracts to identify the immediate and medium term actions required that have been impacted by COVID-19, in liaison with colleagues in the Commercial procurement Unit (CPU) and Legal Services. There are a range of contracts that have been identified which will require action to be taken in the form of either contract extensions, contract variations, exemptions to enable direct awards or continuation of the current service and competitive procurement exercises. The GP Liaison Service supports the health and social care system to fulfil its statutory duties in respect of the identification and assessment of carers. Implementation of a longer term commissioning strategy for the full suite of carers provision is underway, however, continuation of the current service is required to ensure delivery is maintained. The current arrangements will need to continue to the incumbent provider to ensure the Council can meet its statutory duties and carers are not left without support in the interim. The service will be included within the procurement of a wider range of carers services which is due to be concluded during Quarter 1 of the 2022/23 financial year.