Decision details

The Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Children’s Social Care which provided details of the current contractual arrangements and proposals for the future procurement of Residential and Fostering placements for children and young people.

Decision Made: That

(1)       approval be given to the continued use of the Regional Residential Framework Contract for a further 12 month period, from 1st April 2017 until 1st April 2018, as provided for within the original procurement exercise, for the procurement of residential placements;

(2)       approval be given to the Council’s participation in the regional Dynamic Purchasing Systems agreement as explained in paragraph 17, to be procured by STAR on behalf of all participating authorities, for future purchasing of residential placements from 1 October 2017;

(3)       approval be given to the continued use of the Regional Fostering Framework Contract for a further 12 month period, from 1 April 2017 until 1 April 2018, as provided for within the original procurement exercise, for the procurement of fostering placements;

(4)       it be noted that the regional work to be undertaken in 2017/18, will determine the best approach for procuring Fostering placements from April 2018; and that a further report will be submitted to Cabinet in due course; and

(5)       it be noted that the proposal was a Key Decision but had not been included in the Council's Forward Plan of Key Decisions. Consequently, the Leader of the Council and the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Children, Schools and Safeguarding) had been consulted under Rule 27 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules of the Constitution, to the decision being made by Cabinet as a matter of urgency on the basis that it was impracticable to defer the decision until the commencement of the next Forward Plan because the Council needs to make the above decisions prior to the next Cabinet meeting and unfortunately, collective agreement across the collaborating authorities, on the approach to be taken in respect of the final year of the existing Frameworks and their replacement / re-procurement was only secured in the latter part of January 2017, providing a very short window for presenting this report to Cabinet for decision ahead of the start of 2017/18.

Reasons for Decision:

Since April 2014, wherever possible, Fostering and Residential placements for children and young people had been procured through regional Framework Contracts.

When these regional Framework Contracts were originally entered into, they were entered into on the basis of a core contract period of 2 years with further optional extension periods of up to 2 years built in and anticipated at the outset as part of the life of the contract, provided that the quality/price of services/goods provided under the contract are of a satisfactory standard and exercising the extension is considered to represent best value for the Council. The purpose of building contracts around core and extension periods was to ensure that the quality of the contract was maintained throughout the life of the contract and to ensure that the Council, particularly at times of financial uncertainty has flexibility to bring contracts to a conclusion and/or is able to refine services and or goods received under the contract. The value of these contracts requires the extension to be authorised through Cabinet.

The current period of the Framework Contracts expires at the end of March 2017 and the Council needed to determine how it would procure any necessary Fostering and Residential placements for children and young people beyond that date. The current Framework Contracts include options for continued use for a further 12 month period, from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018.

It was recommended that Sefton Council extended it use of the existing regional Residential Framework Contract, for a further twelve month period, whilst procurement of a suitable alternative (a regional Dynamic Purchasing System, DPS) is undertaken; and  extended it’s use of the existing regional Fostering Framework Contract, for a further twelve month period, whilst further work is undertaken to determine the most appropriate future approach, including monitoring the impact of procuring the DPS referred to above.

There are opportunities for new and innovative ways of procuring placements, but these have a mixed evidence base for efficacy in fostering and must be balanced against the risk of rising costs through a new tender. A regional task and finish group will be established to review the current arrangements, test alternative models and apply the learning from the residential retender to the fostering market, in order to confirm the best option from April 2018. A further report would be brought to Cabinet in due course. Whilst this work is underway, it is considered that continued use of the existing Frameworks provides the best value for money for Sefton Council, on the basis of securing placements within the current Framework prices, from known providers who have performed well over the period of the Framework. 

These are important and costly services and the alternative options to the recommendations would be likely to incur greater cost and more variable quality, hence the need to determine the manner of purchasing these placements ahead of the next financial year. Unfortunately, collective agreement across the collaborating authorities, on the approach to be taken in respect of the final year of the existing Frameworks and their replacement / re-procurement was only secured in the latter part of January 2017, providing a very short window for presenting this report to Cabinet ahead of the start of 2017/18.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

Instead of continuing to procure placements through the existing regional Framework Contracts and their replacements, the Council could carry out its own full EU compliant Tender exercise, adopt an alternative Framework, or “Spot Purchase” placements from the market as they are needed.

Undertaking a full EU compliant process alone was not recommended because: the time required to complete the process would be the same as procurement of a regional framework; in this market the Council is unlikely to obtain better prices than through collaborative procurement; and the burden and resource required to ensure quality and safety of provision would be increased, requiring additional resource.

An alternative Framework Agreement is not recommended as the strength of the current framework is that 23 authorities sign up to and use it. To procure as a single authority would disrupt the market, it is likely that providers would increase their prices and the burden and resource required to ensure quality and safety of provision would be increased, requiring additional resource. The prices available through the current Frameworks are competitive and/or better than prices within known alternative Frameworks

Spot purchasing is not recommended as it would increase costs and the burden and resource required to ensure quality and safety of provision would be increased, requiring additional resource.