Ealing Commissioning and Tendering
Master class
27th September 2013
Aims and Objectives:
•Introduction to Children’s Commissioning in Ealing
•The tender process and submitting high quality bids
•Demonstrating value for money and outcomes
•Accessing contract opportunities
•Bidding on a Joint or Solo basis
THE TENDERING PROCESS
11AM TO 11.30AM
Commissioning, Procurement, Tendering & Contracting
Commissioning describes the whole process of mapping,
planning, delivery and evaluation of services for a local area.
A commissioner is anyone undertaking this whole process.
Commissioning, Procurement,
Tendering & Contracting
• Procurement refers to the purchase of services, usually by
publicly funded bodies, at the best possible price, in the
right quantity and quality, at the right time and generally
via a contract. It is one part of the commissioning process
• Tendering is the process of making a formal offer in
writing to provide services as specified in the tender
documents. Successful tenders result in the awarding of a
contract
• Contracting is about one organisation, such
as a local authority paying another to deliver
a service to an exact specification as laid out
and agreed in a contract
Procurement Procedures
• TOTAL ESTIMATED VALUE PROCEDURE
• Up to £10,000
Officers should proceed in a manner most
expedient to the efficient management of the
service.
• £10,001 - £35,000
Three written quotations as a minimum.
• £35,001 - £75,000
Invitation to Tender to at least three tenderers.
• £75,001 – EU Threshold
Invitation to Tender by advertisement.
• Above EU Threshold
EU Tendering procedure.
PROPORTIONALITY , the PROVIDER MARKETS and the NATURE OF THE
SERVICES TO BE DELIVERED, all determine how the Tender process
WILL BE DESIGNED & UNDERTAKEN -
EACH TENDER IS DIFFERENT !!
EU Procurement Directives (at present)
Part B (Residual) Services
Part A Services
(Most of Social Care Service
delivery contracts fall into
Part B Services )
EU Requirements for tendering Part B Services:
• Financial threshold
• A technical service specification and
Publication of contract award OJEU
• Set by the prevailing case law.
CHANGING IN 2013 – UK may be an earlier
implementer of the changes (yet to be agreed)
The ‘common’ Tender Process
Advert
Placed
Seek
EOI
Monitoring
Send
out
PQQ
Award
Interview
PQQ
Evaluation
Submission of
ITT
ITT
Common requirements of a Pre-Qualification
Questionnaire
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Legal status
Previous relevant experience
Resources, Qualification and Accreditations
Financial information – to size of the contract
Policies and Procedures – ‘SAFEGUARDING’
Equality & Diversity
Quality Assurance - ISO 9001, NYA Youth Service Quality
Mark, PQASSO, EFQM
• Insurances – Employment & Public liability
Professional Indemnity
• References
Completing the PQQ
• Pay attention to the scoring (if given)
• Read through the whole document and thoroughly understand
what is being asked of the whole PQQ - in some cases questions
can be confusing & often duplicated in the application form and
can be interpreted in a number of ways
• If in doubt – ask !
• Put yourself in the shoes of the evaluator who can only score you
on what you put down on paper
• Financial health check
• Check you have the relevant insurances in place
• Update policies and procedures with current legislation
• Contact referees in advance - time is of the essence.
Common requirements in an Invitation to Tender
• Ability to meet the service specification and provide evidenced based service
solutions to meet target group and deliver outcomes
• Evidence ability to deliver the service, previous experience and knowledge of
working with the need group and qualifications to do so.
• Ability to set up and delivery the service and the business skills in running the
service – submit business plan.
• Ability to work in partnership and how this will be achieved.
• Ability to measure impact and outcomes.
• Evidence the embedding of policies & procedures within your
organisation.
• Ability to engage & consultant with target group to inform services
FEATURES OF A SUCCESSFULL BID
11:45 to 13:00
What makes a good tender submission?
S – SPECIFICALLY ADDRESS ALL THE SERVICE SPECIFICATION
REQUIREMENTS
M -CLEAR MEANS OF MEASURING NEEDS AND SUCCESS OF
THE PROJECT
A –THE BUSINESS PLAN, MODE OF SERVICE DELIVERY AND
OUTCOMES ARE ACHIEVEABLE
R - THE SUBMISSION IS REASLISTIC
T - THE SERVICE CAN BE SET UP, IMPLEMENTED AND DELIVERED
IN THE REQUIRED TIMESCALES AND THE ORGANISATION HAS
EVIDENCED ITS TECHNICAL ABILITY
TO DELIVERY THE SERVICE
Preparation ...preparation......
• Read through the entire Initiation to Tender (ITT)
• Assess the risks, investment required and engage key
stakeholders.
• Think about each of the questions and ensure you understand
what each question is asking.
• Look at the evaluation scoring.
• Develop project plan to complete the submission.
• Pay attention to the ITT clarification questions and answers
• Attend provider briefing sessions.
• Ask questions and seek clarification where required.
• Do not leave the submission until the last minute.
Exercise 2: • Critiquing previous tender submissions (examples
only for the purpose of this training)
• Ratings 1 – 5 (1 low and 5 highest score)
• Indentify areas for improvement
Key learning points
• Plan your answers
• Evidenced base should be on service solutions and
how will risks be mitigated
• Ability to link best value, service sustainability and
achieving specification requirements and outcomes
• Flexibility of service provision
• Continuous monitoring
Pitfalls to avoid
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Answer did not address the question.
The submission made no explicit link to the outcomes required, it was implied but not
explicit.
Lack of specificity in meeting the described needs and understanding the complexity of
need.
Services were based on existing provision with little explicit reference to meeting the
requirements of the service specification.
Limited explanation given as to what is to be provided (assumed awareness of the
organisation’s ability to provide a service)
Services were too expensive as it included provision not required
No reference was made as to how referrals would be received and how assessment of
needs would be undertaken.
No information given as to how the provider would communicate with other
professionals.
Business plan did not address the management of risks ,
contingency planning or interim
service arrangements.
Continued.....
• Sell our service
• Give good introductions to answers
• In all your tender answers keep referring back to the service specification
requirements
• Understand and answer the question.
• Ensure all your answers address the requirements of the question.
• Try and quantify added value and evidence why the added value
components will be beneficial to the services being procured.
• State the purpose and objective of engaging users in the
deliver of the service and why this is considered to be beneficial.
BE EXPLICT, CLEAR AND CONCISE, CROSS REFERENCE ANSWERS
TO THE SERVICE SPECIFICATION
LUNCH
13:00 TO 13:45
BUILDING THE FUTURE?
What could the future hold ?
Prior or early notification of
tendering opportunity
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Networks
Preparation
Fact and knowledge finding – needs and outcome data
Indentify partners / potential collaborators
Get ready to tender
Assessment of risk
Planning and resourcing
DOING THE BUDGET
14:30 TO 15:00
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Benchmarking...evidencing Best value
Know your USP and the cost of your service
Research
Benchmark
– Remit/scope of the service
– Partnerships & Collaboration
– Location,
– Accessibility,
– Complexity of need,
– Number of staff / volunteers (staffing ratio)
– Staff turnover,
– Training & Qualifications of staff,
– Other funding arrangements – Full cost recovery,
– Number of activities sessions or outputs to be delivered,
– Price,
– Timescales of service delivery
Significant number of variables are involved when benchmarking
thus care should be taken!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Benchmarking
Short Break Services
Service type Costs – Short break services for disabled children
• Residential overnight £69.97 – £373.00 per child per night (24 hour period)
• Family based overnight £140.36 - £226.26 per child per night (24 hour period)
• Day care £99.21 – £204.83 per child per session (8 hours)
• Domiciliary home care £16.74 – £25.60 per family per hour
• Home support £17.54 – £25.60 per family per hour
• Home sitting £10.98 – £26.07 per family per hour
• General groups £296.68 - £430.61 per session
• Afterschool clubs £239.77 - £331.17 per session
• Weekend clubs £296.68 - 324.17 per session
• Activity holidays £113.38 (for a 2 day break) - £3,701.15 (7 day break)
Reference: Research Report DCSF-RR224
The Costs of Short
Break Provision (March 2010)
Not intervening early is expensive….
Cost per child /
family
Child looked after in
children’s home – £125,000
per year placement costs
Multi-dimensional Treatment
Foster Care – £68,000 per year
for total package of support
Child looked after in foster
care – £25,000 per year
placement costs
Family Intervention Projects –
£8-20,000 per family per year
Parenting programme
(e.g. Triple P) – £9001,000 per family
Multi-Systemic Therapy –
£7-10,000 per year
Family Nurse Partnerships –
£3000 per family a year
PEIP – £1,200 3,000 per parent
Children’s Centres - around £600 per user
Schools - £5,400 per pupil
Severity of need
Child looked after in secure
accommodation – £134,000
per year placement costs
Cost
Costs increase
as children get
older
DECIDING WHAT TO DO NEXT ?
Solo or Joint Enterprise
15:00 to 15:40
Partnership / Consortia
submissions
Types of Collaborative working
– Scaling up
– Sheltering
– Merging
– Sub-contracting
– Consortium
Models of Consortia Working:
Informal Network
charity 2
Commissioning
Body
Charity 3
charity 1
Contracts
Charity 4
Charity 7
Charity 5
Charity 6
Lead Agency
Formal Consortium
Partnership / Consortia
submissions – factors to consider
• Maintaining independence and remaining true
to mission
• Effective governance arrangements
• Risk assessment and mitigation
• Protecting charitable resources and ensuring
that they are used appropriately
Partnership / Consortia
submissions
www.locality.org.uk
Contact Details
membership@childrenengland.org.uk
training@childrenengland.org.uk
www.childrenengland.org.uk
Tel: 0207 833 3319