Agenda item

Advocacy Services Procurement

Report of the Executive Director - Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing (Place Director)

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered the report of the Executive Director - Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing (Place Director) seeking approval to complete a procurement exercise for Advocacy Services.

 

Decisions Made:

 

That

 

(1)      approval be granted to commence a procurement exercise to establish new contracts from 1 April 2025 for the provision of advocacy services;

 

(2)      decisions on the inclusion of both Children’s Service and Health advocacy services in the procurement exercise be delegated to the Executive Director - Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing (Place Director), in consultation with the Executive Director - Children’s Social Care and Education and the Cabinet Member – Children, Schools and Families and the Cabinet Member - Adult Social Care and Health, either as part of the original procurement exercise or throughout the duration of any new procurement framework established;

 

(3)           decisions on the commissioning / procurement framework model, tender evaluation criteria, contracting models, contract terms and conditions, and service specification to be applied to the procurement exercises, be delegated to the Executive Director - Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing (Place Director), in consultation with the Executive Director - Children’s Social Care and Education (if the contracts are to include Children’s Services advocacy services) and the Cabinet Member – Children, Schools and Families and the Cabinet Member - Adult Social Care and Health, throughout the duration of the procurement framework, and on the basis that they can be contained within existing and approved budget provision for such services;

 

(4)      contracts to be awarded for an initial contract term of three years with the option to further extend for a period of up to two years, (either as a single extension or via two separate twelve-month extensions) subject to satisfactory performance anddemonstration of value for money of the successful supplier/s ,and the required budget being available, and that decisions on the awarding of the contracts, and any permitted extensions thereof, be delegated to the Executive Director - Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing (Place Director), in consultation with the Executive Director of Children’s Services (if the contracts are to include Children’s Services advocacy services) and the Cabinet Member – Children, Schools and Families and the Cabinet Member - Adult Social Care and Health;

 

(5)      should it be identified during the contractual period that the contracts need to be increased in value to reflect increases in demand for advocacy services and to ensure that Sefton continues to meet its statutory obligations, then delegated authority be given to the Executive Director - Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing (Place Director), in consultation with the Executive Director of Children’s Services (if the contracts are to include Children’s Services advocacy services) and the Cabinet Member – Children, Schools and Families and the Cabinet Member - Adult Social Care and Health to approve any such increases, under the proviso that the additional expenditure can be met within existing budget provision, falls within the associated delegated authority to approve such an increase, and is in line with the applicable procurement regulations; and

 

(6)      the Executive Director - Adult Social Care, Health and Wellbeing (Place Director), in consultation with Cabinet Member - Adult Social Care and Health be authorised to implement a maximum 12-month extension to current Adult Social Care commissioned advocacy services contracts, should there be any delay to the procurement exercise and any new contractual arrangements commencing on 1 April 2025.

 

Reasons for the Decisions:

 

The rational for the recommendations in the report had been formulated to ensure that a procurement exercise took place to secure ongoing delivery of Advocacy Services from 1 April 2025.

 

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

 

None.

 

Supporting documents: