Invitation to Tender for Care at Home Services (Wellbeing Support for Adults)

The contract is split into two Parts, Part 1 Primary Providers (Main and Alternate) and Part 2 Secondary Providers (backup).

Part 1 Primary Providers: up to ten main service providers will be appointed; two in each of the defined contractual neighbourhoods (please see map below outlining the areas). It is proposed that the main service providers will operate on a 'week on' and 'week off' basis. This means that, on their 'week on', main service providers will accept 80% of all referrals; on their 'week off', the main service provider will be expected to accept 20% of referrals. The reason for this is to allow the service provider time to embed the support plan for each person referred. The two main service providers in each neighbourhood should work in partnership to ensure 100% of packages are accepted.

Part 2 Secondary Providers: up to five backup providers covering the full borough (all 5 zones) accepting packages of care when the Part 1 providers are unable (must not exceed the number of hours delivered by Part 1 providers unless in exceptional circumstances agreed by the Commissioner).

You are invited to bid as a main provider with a minimum of one or maximum of two Zones in Part 1 or you may bid for Part 2 only across all zones. You may bid for both Part 1 and Part 2. Bidding for two zones will not guarantee two zones will be awarded. Awards will be based on the most economically advantageous tenders as detailed in Section 4. This procurement process has been designed to deliver continued market sustainability, which is a priority for the council.

The Council will only work with providers who can meet the Care Quality Commission ratings of 'Good' and 'Outstanding'. For any new providers who have not yet received a CQC rating, Bury Council would carry out our own due diligence checks, including quality assurance rating before awarding a contract. Providers who have not yet received a CQC rating will only be eligible to work in Part 2 and must receive a rating of 'Good' or 'Outstanding' within the first 12 months. Failure to do so may result in termination of the contract.

The contract is for an initial period of three-years, with an option to extend for a further 2 x 12-month periods, dependent upon annual performance reviews and at the council's discretion.

Payments will be paid on actual contact time based on information obtained from providers Electronic Care Monitoring Systems. Bidders should ensure that they are fully familiar with the nature and extent of the obligations to be accepted by them if their Tender is accepted by the council.

No guarantee of hours will be offered, but, for information only, the current annual contract value is approximately £10 million across the entire borough based on 24/25 expenditure.

The current number of customers, number of commissioned hours per week, and average number of hours per customer are broken down in the zoned areas in the table below:

Zoned providers will be expected to pick up all new packages of care. Existing customers will be given the option to move to the new provider in their zone if they wish to do so, otherwise they will remain with the existing provider.

This Tender process will be completed under the Procurement Act regulations 2015. Market engagement and consultation was engaged before the new 2023 Procurement regulation came into place. Reference to Chest/Proactis portal DN751138 in relation to the above.

(Please note: The Procurement description is not final and The Council have the right to Change before the Tender is Live Accordingly)