Agenda item

Report of the Head of Commissioning Support and Business Intelligence

Further to Minute No. 47 of the meeting held on 3 November 2016, the Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Commissioning Support and Business Intelligence which provided details of a procurement exercise for the provision of Domiciliary Care services under Liverpool City Region Tripartite (Sefton/Knowsley/Liverpool) joint working arrangements, the development of a new outcome based service model and consultation and engagement activities.

Decision Made: That

(1)       approval be given to the extension of the existing contracts for an additional one month period (1April 2018 to 30 April 2018) in order to implement joint commissioning with Knowsley MBC under the Liverpool City Region/Tripartite joint working arrangements;

(2)       approval be given to the commencement of a procurement exercise for Domiciliary Care services from 1May 2018 onwards, via Tripartite Liverpool City Region joint commissioning;

(3)       the Director of Social Care and Health be granted delegated authority to make decisions regarding the configuration of service delivery areas, contractual terms, tender evaluation criteria and the outcome based service specification. Such decisions will be made in advance of the procurement exercise commencing; and

(4)       the Cabinet Member – Adult Social Care be granted delegated to award the contracts, following the procurement exercise.

Reasons for Decision:

Following the Cabinet decision made on 3November 2016, existing Domiciliary Care contracts were extended for an additional twelve month period (1^st April 2017 to 31^st March 2018).

Officers had explored a joint commissioning arrangement for the replacement service with Knowsley Council and sought approval for a further one month extension of the Sefton contracts in order to align the end dates of the Sefton and Knowsley contracts and facilitate this joint commissioning.

Approval was also sought to commence a procurement exercise for the provision of Domiciliary Care services from 1 May 2018, in order to ensure continuity of service and implementation of a revised model of service.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

The following options were considered and rejected;

(1)       Further extending existing contracts up to 31^st March 2019

This option was rejected as an increased extension (to 31^st March 2019 – which was the maximum extension period under the existing contractual terms) would significantly delay the implementation of a new model of service thus delaying the benefits of such a model being realised.

(2)       New Directions as a Council owned provider being awarded a Domiciliary Care contract for the whole borough of Sefton from 1^st May 2018

This option was considered but was not recommended as it is felt that at this present time New Directions would be unable to deliver a borough wide service and awarding a contract for all services to one Provider would be a risk, based on having a limited market, and could impact on delivery of the Personalisation agenda by limiting choice for Service Users and people funding their own care as other non-contracted Providers may withdraw from the Sefton market. Furthermore awarding a contract to a sole Provider would not support partnership Tripartite commissioning or work across the wider Liverpool City Region aiming to achieve benefits through joint procurement and contracting.