Agenda item

Report of the Head Children’s Social Care

Reasons for the Decision:

Since April 2014, wherever possible and where no in house foster placements are available, fostering placements for children and young people have 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.  It was  anticipated at the outset that this extension would be taken up 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 primary purpose of building contracts around core and extension periods is to ensure that the quality of the contract is 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.

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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. These include multiple authorities purchasing jointly from the DPS. A regional task and finish group was 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.

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.

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 is not recommended because: the time required to complete the process would be the same as procurement of a regional framework and 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. Additionally providers have given feedback that they do not want to join lots of separate frameworks but would rather the local authorities worked together.

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.