Portsmouth Advice Service

Portsmouth City Council ('the council') is inviting tenders from suitably qualified suppliers to provide an open access social welfare advice service for adults in Portsmouth. This will provide an opportunity for specialist and generalist advice to improve outcomes and maximise use of resources for all people living or working within the boundaries of the city, and for Portsmouth City Council tenants living in Havant.

The Service will provide expert advice on housing, welfare benefits, debt, income maximisation, employment rights, general family issues, and consumer issues, and general advice on other queries, such as access to services and support. The overarching aim of the provision is to help prevent further crisis and improve outcomes for the individual whilst helping reduce the need for healthcare, social care and other statutory services.

The Service will offer advice in-person from an accessible location or locations in Portsmouth and by telephone, email and other channels that meet the needs of customers. Tenderers will be required to provide their own accommodation for the delivery of this service which must be centrally located and easily accessible. All advice provided must be completely free of charge, confidential and impartial.

The awarded provider should expect to receive over 12,000 customer contacts a year.

The council is targeting to have awarded the contract on 5 August 2022 to allow for service commencement on 1 November 2022. The contract will be let for an initial term of 3 years which may then run for a further 2 years in increments set by the Council to a total maximum term of 5 years, subject to performance and at the sole option of the Council.

The estimated total contract value IRO £295,000 pa, £1,475,000 over maximum 5 year contract term. This is based on the current funding for the services.

The contract value is expected to remain in the region of £295,000 per annum for the term of the contract, however it may increase or decrease throughout the contract term subject to any known or unknown changes to budget allocation, variation of services, or addition of further associated services in order to meet changes in demand or the service delivery.

An accurate forecast cannot be made regarding the level of further funding, if any, that may become available, but it is not expected to equate to an increase of more than approx. 10% and therefore approx. £1,622,500 total value over the 5 year maximum term. However, these estimates are not guarantees and are non-binding in terms of any maximum total upper value that may be let via the contracts.

The procurement process will be undertaken in line with the following programme:

Application is via completed tender submission by the deadline stated above via the Council's e-sourcing system InTend which will be used to administrate the procurement process, the system can be accessed free of charge via the web link below:

https://in-tendhost.co.uk/portsmouthcc/aspx/home