Direct Award of Contracts for Services for People with Complex Needs

Descriptions

Torbay Council has embarked on a new and locally experimental alliance model of commissioning services for complex adults. The scope includes drug and alcohol treatment services, domestic abuse and sexual violence services and supported housing. Because of the novel nature of commissioning and procuring these services, there are a number of aspects that are untested and therefore a comprehensive level of rigour needs to be applied to establish the process and requirements, including significant engagement with suppliers, service users and other key stakeholders. It was initially anticipated that any new service contracts would commence on 1 October 2020 and new short-term contracts were put in place with our existing providers, following publication of VEAT notice 2019/S 053-123016. Since March 2019 the Council has been working extensively with the market and other stakeholders to establish the Alliance principles and model. Whilst this work has been in progress a new Council administration has been put in place, resulting in a further period of consultation with elected members. This change in administration has impacted on timescales for decision making and agreement of budgets, which means we will be unable to achieve the planned start date of 1 October 2020. A revised timeline for the project was established, with the intention that the tender would be issued to the market in May 2020. To allow for the establishment of the alliance and development of the service delivery models a revised anticipated contract start date of 6 June 2021 was identified. It has now become apparent that the Council is unlikely to be able to meet this timescale due to the impact of the current Covid-19 pandemic. Key Council staff in the public health and adult social care teams, along with those organisations who would be bidding for this contract are at the frontline in responding to the emergency and therefore are unable to commit any resource to this work. It is essential that our current service providers, and others on the front-line, are supported to continue delivering services to our most vulnerable at this time. The Council has therefore taken the decision to defer the procurement until such time as there is sufficient capacity and resource available to allow for a robust process to be undertaken. We are expecting there will be a need to delay the commencement of the tender process by at least a further 6 months, to November 2020, with a view to service delivery commencing in December 2021. As a result Torbay council proposes to directly award contracts to its incumbent providers to ensure continuation of service and provide stability in the system until this innovative procurement is undertaken, as follows: • drugs and alcohol (Torbay and South Devon NHSFT), • Leonard Stocks Hostel Provision (Langley House Trust), • Torbay Domestic Abuse Services (Sanctuary Supported Living). These contracts are expected to be in place for a minimum of 15 months, but may be extended for a period of up to a further 6 months if the current emergency does not allow for commencement of the tender process within the timescales indicated above. Any extension beyond 15 months will be subject to available funding and internal approval processes.