Essex County Council Direct Payment Support Service

Essex County Council
Contact point(s): Commercial Team Ariba eProcurement
For the attention of: Esther Beaumont
CM1 1JZ Chelmsford
UNITED KINGDOM
Telephone: +44 3330131624
E-mail: email2workspace-prod+ecc+ws423501790+jz4f@ansmtp.ariba.com

Further information can be obtained from: The above mentioned contact point(s)

Specifications and additional documents (including documents for competitive dialogue and a dynamic purchasing system) can be obtained from: The above mentioned contact point(s)

Tenders or requests to participate must be sent to: The above mentioned contact point(s)

Regional or local authority

General public services

The contracting authority is purchasing on behalf of other contracting authorities: yes

NHS Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group
CM2 5PF
Chelmsford
UNITED KINGDOM

NHS West Essex Clinical Commissioning Group
CM16 6TN
Epping
UNITED KINGDOM

NHS Basildon & Brentwood Clinical Commissioning Group
SS14 3HG
Basildon
UNITED KINGDOM

NHS Castlepoint & Rochford Clinical Commissioning Group
SS14 3HG
Basildon
UNITED KINGDOM

NHS North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group
CO4 5JR
Colchester
UNITED KINGDOM

Direct Payment Support Service 0141.

Services
Service category No 25: Health and social services
Main site or location of works, place of delivery or of performance: Essex.

NUTS code UKH33

The notice involves the establishment of a framework agreement

Framework agreement with several operators
maximum number of participants to the framework agreement envisaged: 10

Duration of the framework agreement

Duration in years: 4

Estimated total value of purchases for the entire duration of the framework agreement

Estimated value excluding VAT:
Range: between 4 000 000 and 5 000 000 GBP

Essex County Council (ECC) is inviting appropriately qualified and experienced suppliers to tender for the County wide ‘Direct Payment Support Service’.
Through this service, ECC aims to support people in Essex, who use Direct cash payments or Self-fund their care. This service contributes to the corporate outcome ‘People in Essex can live independently and exercise control over their lives’.
Through this process we are commissioning the following outcomes:
— Individuals have a care and support plan in place, operating effectively;
— Individuals are making payments for solutions identified in care and support plans in a timely, efficient and person-centred way;
— Individuals have successfully recruited and employed personal assistants and other staff and are effectively managing them;
The contract will support the Councils strategy for increasing numbers of people with Personal Budgets and the continued uptake of Direct Payments.
This contract will be split into 3 distinct ‘Lots’, as follows;
— Lot 1 — Support Planning and brokerage;
— Lot 2 — Payroll and Payment Accounts;
— Lot 3 — Personal Assistant (PA) Employment, Training and maintenance of a PA Register.
Tenderers are able to bid for 1, 2 or 3 lots, as appropriate.
This service will support both Adults and Children and their families, being accessible to all Service Users of all ages and specialisms, who utilise a Personal Budget. It is envisaged that during the contract term, integrated Health and Social Care Personal budgets will be introduced with increasing numbers over time. As yet, timelines for introduction are unconfirmed, however, this contract will also be open to the 5 CCG’s operating within Essex.
This contract will be awarded to multiple providers, who will be required to deliver and fully support both general and more specialist needs, promoting user-led approaches and peer support. This will maximise choice for our Service users, as required by the Care Act 2014. In addition, it is Essex County Council’s expectation that successful providers will work with the extended market to further ensure that all Service User needs are met.
The Council would welcome interested parties from all market sectors, including the Third Sector and the contract is required to commence on the 1.10.2015.

To receive the Tender documents, please register your interest in this opportunity via Essex County Council’s electronic procurement system Ariba, via the message board email2workspace-prod+ECC+WS423501790+jz4f@ansmtp.ariba.com

85312310, 85321000

The contract is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA): yes

This contract is divided into lots: yes
Tenders may be submitted for one or more lots

Variants will be accepted: no

Current Essex County Council budget stands at 976 000 GBP per annum. Volumes, however, are set to increase significantly over the contract duration, particularly with the addition of Health budgets.

Options: no

This contract is subject to renewal: no

Duration in months: 48 (from the award of the contract)

Personal budgets have been in place for several years in Essex, with a growing number of adult social care service users making use of direct payments and taking control of their own funding. There is increasing emphasis on the quality of support plans. The service will need to ensure that plans are effective and efficient and include an asset based approach incorporating a variety of solutions including no-cost or low-cost services.
Some individuals who fund their own support solutions may require access to the support planning service and may be prepared to fund their own referral. These individuals should have access to the same support service.
This service will support referred individuals to create a fully costed support plan that describes how their eligible needs will be met using their personal budget.

85312310, 85321000

It is planned that this Lot will be awarded to multiple providers.

Personal budgets have been in place for several years in Essex, with a growing number of adult social care service users making use of direct payments and taking control of their own funding. There is increasing emphasis upon individuals using direct payments to meet the outcomes defined in their support plans. An individual’s support plan should address the full range of health and social care needs and so may lead to a need for a range of different payroll and invoice payments. This service will support referred individuals to make all necessary payments, according to the costs allocated within their support plan. Some individuals who fund their own support solutions may require access to the payment service and may be prepared to fund their own referral. These individuals should have access to the same support service.

85312310, 85321000

It is planned that this Lot will be awarded to multiple providers.

Personal budgets have been in place for several years in Essex, with a growing number of adult social care service users making use of direct payments and taking control of their own funding. Employment of a PA is a critical issue for successful use of personal budgets. Providers will be expected to offer a high quality service that supports individuals to select and recruit the right personal assistants to meet their needs, and to maintain an effective ongoing employment relationship with those personal assistants. As the number of people using a personal budget / direct payment grows, it will become more important to develop and maintain an effective employment market with a suitable range of skills and experience. The provider will be expected to maintain a register of Personal Assistants to match with individuals requiring support. As the market grows the provider will be required to work with funding organisations to undertake activity to encourage and develop a suitable number of Personal Assistants.
Some individuals who fund their own support solutions may require access to the Employment Service and may be prepared to fund their own referral. These individuals should have access to the same support service as other users.

85312310, 85321000

It is planned that this Lot will be awarded to 1 provider Only.

Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met: As detailed within the Tender documentation.

Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met:
As detailed within the Tender documentation.

Open

The most economically advantageous tender in terms of the criteria stated in the specifications, in the invitation to tender or to negotiate or in the descriptive document

An electronic auction will be used: no

Direct Payment Support Services 0141 / Doc483234584

no

Time limit for receipt of requests for documents or for accessing documents: 9.7.2015
Payable documents: no

16.7.2015 – 12:00

English.

in days: 90 (from the date stated for receipt of tender)

This is a recurrent procurement: no

The contract is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: no

Potential bidders should contact Essex County Council requesting to be invited to this tendering event by following these instructions:

1. Send an email with your organisation name in the subject title field to ‘email2workspace-prod+ECC+WS423501790+jz4f@ansmtp.ariba.com’ asking to be invited to this event and providing your contact name and Supplier ID/User ANID from your Ariba registration details.

2. If you have more than one registered user who you want invited to the event, provide the name(s) of each registered user in your request as it may not be possible to include additional users at a later stage.

If you are not registered in Ariba at all, go to ‘http://ecc.supplier.ariba.com/ad/register/SSOActions?type=full’ and follow the instructions to register then follow steps 1 and 2 above. (Please note: 35 % completion (i.e. mandatory fields only: organisation/user details, commodity, sales territory) is the minimum required for your Ariba cloud registration, you do not need to reach 100 % completion).

The supplier portal will be used throughout the procurement process, and all communications with Essex County Council relating to this procurement exercise must be via the supplier portal. The supplier portal has instructions on how to use the system and access the information as well as a help-desk to assist Bidders.
Essex County Council reserves the right to cancel the procurement exercise and/or not to award all or part of a contract. Essex County Council will not be responsible for any costs incurred by Providers in relation to this procurement exercise.
Electronic payment will be used.

10.6.2015