19-006 Rotherham Advocacy Service

The Council is prepared to receive tenders for the Rotherham Advocacy Service which will be subject to the information provided within the specification and tender documentation. It is anticipated that the contract will commence on 01/04/2020 and will run for a period of 3 years of the initial contract term making the expiry date 31/03/2023. The contract will have an option to extend by 2 x 12 months extensions at the sole discretion of the Council making the latest possible end date 04/04/2025. Tenderers are advised that the budget available for the provision of this contract is between £280,000 and £350,000 per annum. The Council has undertaken a robust costing exercise and is confident this value range is achievable. It is therefore expected that submissions are received within this affordability envelope. This Contract contains both a 'block' purchasing element and a 'spot' purchasing element. Block Purchasing: The value of the Block will include a total of 600 hours of Independent Advocacy per month. There is a maximum budget of £277,000 per annum for the "Block" element available. Any bid/s received in excess of this figure will be deemed unaffordable and therefore will not be considered any further. Bids received below £226,000 per annum will require clarification and may be considered as an abnormally low tender which may result in elimination from the process. Spot Purchasing: The sub-contracted element of this service will be 'spot' purchased by the hour. At least 50% of the Community Advocacy demand will be sub-contracted to specialist organisations whose remit is directed towards the relief by reason of disability and concern particular to a client group. Independent Advocacy which is commissioned to be delivered outside a 20 mile radius of the centre of Rotherham (see map - Appendix 3) will be sub-contracted to advocacy organisations that meet the required standards. Independent Advocacy commissioned in excess of the volume of the 'block' will be 'spot' purchased and delivered by the Lead Provider. This agreement is for the sole use of RMBC. No other public sector bodies will have access to any agreement that results from this ITT. The current provider of this service considers the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 as amended by the Collective Redundancies and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 apply to this contract.

Additional information: The detailed service specification is available for download along with the full suite of tender documentation from https://www.yortender.co.uk with reference number DN441916