Direct Payment Support Services 0141

Essex County Council (ECC) is inviting appropriately qualified and experienced suppliers to tender for the County wide ‘Direct Payment Support Service’.

Through this service, ECC aims to support people in Essex, who use Direct cash payments or Self-fund their care. This service contributes to the corporate outcome 'People in Essex can live independently and exercise control over their lives'.

Through this process we are commissioning the following outcomes:

• Individuals have a care and support plan in place, operating effectively

• Individuals are making payments for solutions identified in care and support plans in a timely, efficient and person-centred way

• Individuals have successfully recruited and employed personal assistants and other staff and are effectively managing them

The contract will support the Councils strategy for increasing numbers of people with Personal Budgets and the continued uptake of Direct Payments.

This contract will be split into 3 distinct ‘Lots’, as follows;

• Lot 1 - Support Planning & brokerage
• Lot 2 - Payroll & Managed Accounts
• Lot 3 - Personal Assistant (PA) Employment, Training & maintenance of a PA Register

Tenderers are able to bid for one, two or three lots, as appropriate.

This service will support both Adults and Children and their families, being accessible to all Service Users of all ages and specialisms, who utilise a Personal Budget. It is envisaged that during the contract term, integrated Health & Social Care Personal budgets will be introduced with increasing numbers over time. As yet, timelines for introduction are unconfirmed, however, this contract will also be open to the 5 CCG's operating within Essex.

This contract will be awarded to multiple providers, who will be required to deliver and fully support both general and more specialist needs, promoting user-led approaches and peer support. This will maximise choice for our Service users, as required by the Care Act 2014. In addition, it is Essex County Council’s expectation that successful providers will work with the extended market to further ensure that all Service User needs are met.

The Council would welcome interested parties from all market sectors, including the Third Sector and the contract is required to commence on the 1st October 2015.

To receive the Tender documents, please register your interest in this opportunity via Essex County Council’s electronic procurement system Ariba, via the message board email2workspace-prod+ECC+WS423501790+jz4f@ansmtp.ariba.com .

Additional information: Potential bidders should contact Essex County Council requesting to be invited to this tendering event by following these instructions:

1. Send an email with your organisation name in the subject title field to

'email2workspace-prod+ECC+WS423501790+jz4f@ansmtp.ariba.com'

asking to be invited to this event and providing your contact name and Supplier ID/User ANID from your Ariba registration details.

2. If you have more than one registered user who you want invited to the event, provide the name(s) of each registered user in your request as it may not be possible to include additional users at a later stage.

If you are not registered in Ariba at all, go to 'http://ecc.supplier.ariba.com/ad/register/SSOActions?type=full'

and follow the instructions to register then follow steps 1 and 2 above. (PLEASE NOTE: 35% completion (i.e. mandatory fields only: organisation/user details, commodity, sales territory) is the minimum required for your Ariba cloud registration, you do not need to reach 100% completion.)

The supplier portal will be used throughout the procurement process, and all communications with Essex County Council relating to this procurement exercise must be via the supplier portal. The supplier portal has instructions on how to use the system and access the information as well as a helpdesk to assist Bidders.

Essex County Council reserves the right to cancel the procurement exercise and/or not to award all or part of a contract. Essex County Council will not be responsible for any costs incurred by Providers in relation to this procurement exercise.

Electronic payment will be used.