Issue details

1. The decision to go out to market for a Direct Payment Support Service was taken in January 2018, however a single poor quality bid was received and an options appraisal together with a Market Event happened over the Summer.
2. A number of changes have been made to the original tender to refine the offer and make it more attractive to the Market. Apart from the changes detailed below, nothing has changed in respect of the previous ODR in terms of aims, objectives and financial envelope.
3. Change of name: The name change has been agreed, after some debate internally, together with feedback from Providers that the Direct Payment Support Service did not accurately reflect the ‘managed’ element of the service. The name Direct Payment Managed Support Service more correctly describes the range of the services provided.
4. TUPE of Council Officers: This is no longer applicable to this contract.
5. This is fortuitous as feedback received at the Provider event suggested one of the main barriers to submitting a bid for this service was based on the internal council staff and the associated TUPE and pension costs. A few providers identified that the pay scales for the positions would also create an inequity between transferred and existing staff which may also be difficult to manage.
Revised Procurement Timetable – due to the need to refresh, revise and update the Specification for this service, the original Procurement timeline has been delayed. Therefore the new contract is now expected to ‘go live’ on 1st February 2019, rather than 1st January 2019. A Contract Waiver is to be submitted to Audit to inform them of the necessary delay and the required extension to The Rowan contract.