Commissioning Homes for Children Looked After and Care leavers PDPS - Lot 4

The London Borough of Newham wishes to establish a Pseudo-Dynamic Purchasing System (PDPS) for the supply of services in respect of children's externally commissioned care, accommodation and support services. The services include:

Lot 1: Provision of Semi-Independent Living Services - already established

Lot 2: Provision of Children's Homes regulated by Ofsted - already established

Lot 3: Provision of Supported Lodgings

Lot 4: Provision of Independent Fostering Agencies (IFA) regulated by Ofsted

These services will be available to looked after children, care leavers and young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness .

Potential Suppliers are invited to Tender for one or more of the Lots.

This PDPS is open for use to the following (and subject to Section 3 Scope of Agreement of LAC PDPS Agreement Processor):

• any Public Body outlined in either Part I or Part II of the Local Authorities (Goods and Services) (Public Bodies) Order 1972. Details of these can be found at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1972/853/made

The Procurement is being procured by the Authority for the benefit of the Authority and the Partner Organisations.

The procurement is being conducted in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The procurement is subject to the light-touch regime under Section 7 Social and Other Specific Services. Under Regulation 76 the Council is free to establish a procedure, provided that procedure is sufficient to ensure compliance with the principles of transparency and equal treatment of economic operators (Suppliers).

The Authority has created a tender process outlined below, as part of the PDPS applying the award criteria specified in this contract notice.

Any interested organisation/consortium with relevant experience may submit a Bid in response to this ITT.

The Council is using the one stage procedure for admission onto the PDPS

The Light Touch PDPS will be conducted in staged Rounds. The initial Round for Lot 3 and Lot 4 for this Light Touch PDPS will close on 20/05/2022.

Rounds will open and close throughout the lifetime of the PDPS at the Authorities discretion. The initial Round for Lot 3 and lot 4 for this PDPS will be open for 52 calendar days. Following on from this, each Round will be open to new or previously unsuccessful Suppliers to submit their bid. A new Round will be opened within 48 hours (excluding bank holidays and weekends) of a Round closing. Please note from time to time there may be a further delay in opening a new Round within the stated 48 hours.

This means that applications can be submitted throughout the duration of the PDPS, but the Council will only process the applications as and when the round is closed. Please note the length of Rounds will vary throughout the lifetime of the PDPS.

The Council intends to publish further opportunities as part of its Rounds, during the lifetime of the PDPS, relating to Children's commissioned care, accommodation and support services, for example the Provision of Supported Lodgings and the Provision of Independent Fostering Agencies (IFA) regulated by Ofsted.

Further Rounds will be communicated within the tender documents at time of publication. Any changes to the procurement Timetable shall be notified to all Tenderers as soon as practicable

A Supplier wanting to join the PDPS will be required to apply through the Council's procurement e-tendering portal; Fusion.

Suppliers who are unsuccessful in a specific Round may apply to be admitted to the PDPS in a subsequent or later Round

The Council will add Potential Suppliers to the PDPS throughout its duration, providing Potential Suppliers meet the requirement as outlined in the ITT and submit an Application, which is found to be compliant.

Please see Additional Information in Section VI for timescale and value of the PDPS.