Agenda item

Joint report of the Assistant Chief Executive and the Director of Commissioning and Procurement

Clare Labdon-West, Commissioning Manager, introduced the report seeking approval to establish an Accreditation Process for the procurement of day and evening opportunities for vulnerable adults with a personal budget. This will replace the existing Framework when this comes to an end in February 2017. The new contracts will commence in March 2017 and be for three years plus a potential three year extension. The services will provide a range of outcome focussed, person centred activities for eligible citizens including those with a learning disability, mental health issues, physical disabilities and older people.

RESOLVED to

(1)  approve the establishment of an Accredited List of providers for Day and Evening Services for vulnerable adults with a personal budget;

(2)  delegate authority to the Director of Procurement and Commissioning to approve the outcome of the procurement processes and award contracts to providers that are deemed suitable to be part of the Accredited List;

(3)  delegate authority to the Head of Contracting and Procurement to sign the final contracts.

Reasons for decision

An Accreditation Process will enable Nottingham City Council to vet and qualify potential providers of day and evening opportunities to ensure they have the ability to provide such services. The process is similar to the Pre-Qualifying Questionnaire phase of a tender process and will look at the organisations’ suitability to provide a service. This will include examining the company’s finances as well as ensuring that relevant policies and processes are in place. Checks will also be carried out to ensure that there is no legal reason why the provider should not deliver the service. The detail of the service, including quality standards, will be included in the service specification and contract. The providers will then be subject to Nottingham City Council’s quality monitoring processes.

The current Framework for Day and Evening Services was established in 2013 and was fixed for 4 years. Several of the existing providers within Nottingham City were unsuccessful in the tendering process and were therefore not included in the Framework. As there was still a need for their provision and citizens have continued to choose these providers, spot contracting arrangements have been used. There have also been a number of new providers enter the market that have been unable to join the Framework. In order to make use of their provision, spot contracts have been required. This puts additional pressure on the council in terms of managing the process. Although citizens are able to access direct payments for provision, it is reported by operational colleagues that often citizens do not want this option despite this being offered during the assessment process. This is particularly true of citizens with a learning disability where there is reported to be a clear preference for a managed account.

Day and evening services are unregulated and providers are not required to be registered with the Care Quality Commission. Providers who are part of the current Framework are subject to contract monitoring from the Contract Performance Care and Support Team which includes the internal Quality Monitoring Framework. Where standards are not maintained, there are a range of measures available to the authority to improve the provider performance and safeguard citizens. Spot contracts are not subject to the same internal quality monitoring processes as Framework Providers which creates a risk to citizens.

By having an Accreditation Process for providers there would be no further need for spot contracting arrangements. All providers would be required to meet the accreditation process that Nottingham City Council will no longer be making placements via spot contracts. If a citizen wishes to use an unaccredited provider they will only be able to do this by utilising a direct payment. An Accredited List will allow new providers to join the list at any time which would enable citizens to benefit from these providers at the earliest opportunity.

Operational colleagues have advised that they are often challenged to find services which are suitable for citizens with complex needs or behaviour which challenges. A procurement method which is flexible and allows Nottingham City Council to capture all capacity within the market is therefore necessary.

The specification for the services will maintain the current commitment to creating a broad spectrum of provision in order to meet the diverse needs of our citizens.

The accreditation process will include measures to ensure that citizens are being safeguarded, for example all providers will need to provide copies of their safeguarding policies and confirmation of the use of DBS checks. Citizens accessing a service from the Accredited List will be assured that the provider has met the minimum standard to be accepted onto the list and that the service they will receive will be subject to Nottingham City Council’s quality monitoring process with regards to the agreed service standards.

The accredited List will enable the council to manage the overall costs of day services as providers will be required to clearly present prices for the services offered (whether session or hourly rates) and this information will be available to citizens when they select services from the list. Indicative prices could be publicised as part of the tenders and tenderers will be encouraged to offer value for money in their tender submissions, while still allowing for the market to self-regulate around this issue.

Other options considered

Do nothing. This is not an option as the Framework is due to end in February 2017 and a new contractual arrangement is required.

Establish another Framework. Citizens who wish to purchase a service from a provider who is not part of the framework would need to utilise a direct payment. An Accredited List would create more choice for citizens and flexibility for us to add new providers as they enter the market.