Planning

WM Placement Portal Replacement Soft Market Sounding Exercise

  • Birmingham City Council

F01: Prior information notice (prior information only)

Notice identifier: 2021/S 000-004140

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-029791

Published 2 March 2021, 2:08pm



Section one: Contracting authority

one.1) Name and addresses

Birmingham City Council

10 Woodcock Street

BIRMINGHAM

B4 7WB

Contact

Corporate Procurement Services

Email

etendering@birmingham.gov.uk

Telephone

+44 1214648000

Country

United Kingdom

NUTS code

UKG - West Midlands (England)

Internet address(es)

Main address

www.finditinbirmingham.com

Buyer's address

www.in-tendhost.co.uk/birminghamcc

one.3) Communication

Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address

one.4) Type of the contracting authority

Regional or local authority

one.5) Main activity

General public services


Section two: Object

two.1) Scope of the procurement

two.1.1) Title

WM Placement Portal Replacement Soft Market Sounding Exercise

Reference number

P0731

two.1.2) Main CPV code

  • 72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

two.1.3) Type of contract

Services

two.1.4) Short description

The Birmingham City Council (BCC) though this market testing exercise is looking for supplier(s) who can provide the council with a secure online portal for Child Care Placement service.

The purpose of this Soft Market Testing Exercise is to gain a better understanding of what solutions are available in the market that could provide a viable alternative or enhancement to the Council's current online portal and to support BCC in development a specification.

The questionnaire provided in the Soft Market Testing pack includes a range of BCC services and transactions type, some of which are available through existing online portal.

Birmingham City Council has also provided a few general high-level functional requirements that the existing online account solution provides, plus several high-level technical requirements. Suppliers are asked to rate their own offerings in relation to these.

If you are interested in tendering, please click on the following link to access Birmingham City Council's tender portal, detail on how to register on the e-tender portal is below.

two.1.6) Information about lots

This contract is divided into lots: No

two.2) Description

two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)

  • 72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

two.2.3) Place of performance

NUTS codes
  • UKG - West Midlands (England)

two.2.4) Description of the procurement

Birmingham City Council (BCC) is working with West Midlands Children's Services (a collaborative of 14 Local Authorities (LA's) and Children's Trusts (Trusts)) to undertake Soft Market testing exercise for a web-based IT solution that provides a single portal for use by all 14 LA's and Trusts that enables brokerage of services and placements searches across a number of frameworks.

The West Midlands Local Authorities & Trusts include Birmingham Children's Trust, Coventry City Council, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, Herefordshire Council, Sandwell Children's Trust, Shropshire County Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, Staffordshire County Council, Stoke-On-Trent City Council, Borough of Telford & Wrekin , Walsall Council, Warwickshire County Council, Wolverhampton City Council and Worcestershire Children First.

There are approx. 200 staff from commissioning and placements teams across the 14 LAs and Trusts that are registered users of the current system and around 800 providers. This is subject to change as new frameworks are added.

The existing system is due to expire in 2022 and we are interested to learn about innovative ideas and potential future solutions for its replacement.

To take part in the Soft Market Testing exercise, please visit our etendering portal at https://in-tendhost.co.uk/birminghamc

The BCC would very much like to hear from a range of different suppliers to the market. Both service and product options are of interest.

two.3) Estimated date of publication of contract notice

17 May 2021


Section four. Procedure

four.1) Description

four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes


Section six. Complementary information

six.3) Additional information

Birmingham City Council (BCC) is undertaking a Soft Market Testing Exercise in relations to the availability of Child Care Placement Portal Replacement software solution. This will feed into the development of BCC specification and on-going strategy in this area.

As part of the Soft Market Testing Exercise. BCC may invite some of the participating respondent to demonstrate their product and platform to a panel of project stakeholders.

BCC reserve the right to determine who is invited to any demonstration, and an expression of interest by a supplier does not mean an invitation will be automatically forthcoming. Any supplier not invited to a product demonstration are not excluded from involvement in any future procurement project for this requirement.

Birmingham City Council will be using its e-Tendering system, In-Tend, for the administration of this process and supplier must register with the system to be able to obtain the documents.

The web address is: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/birminghamcc. Registration and use of In-Tend is free. All correspondence for this process must be via the In-Tend correspondence function. If you are unable to register with In-Tend, please either email:cps@birmingham.gov.uk or call +44 1214648000.

Your completed submission should be returned by noon on 26 March 2021 (5pm) using In-Tend.

Please note that this is not a call for competition.