Tender

Advocacy & Independent Visitors for Children

  • Warwickshire County Council
  • Coventry City Council

F21: Social and other specific services – public contracts (contract notice)

Notice identifier: 2024/S 000-031246

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-04a44e

Published 30 September 2024, 5:06pm



Section one: Contracting authority

one.1) Name and addresses

Warwickshire County Council

Shire Hall,Market Square

WARWICK

CV344RL

Contact

Manjit Nagra

Email

manjitnagra@warwickshire.gov.uk

Telephone

+44 1926412026

Country

United Kingdom

Region code

UKG13 - Warwickshire

Justification for not providing organisation identifier

Not on any register

Internet address(es)

Main address

www.warwickshire.gov.uk

Buyer's address

www.warwickshire.gov.uk/procurement

one.1) Name and addresses

Coventry City Council

City Council House, Earl St,

Coventry

CV1 5RR

Contact

Emma Franklin

Email

emma.franklin@coventry.gov.uk

Country

United Kingdom

Region code

UKG33 - Coventry

Justification for not providing organisation identifier

Not on any register

Internet address(es)

Main address

www.coventry.gov.uk

one.2) Information about joint procurement

The contract involves joint procurement

one.3) Communication

The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at

www.csw-jets.co.uk

Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address

Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted to 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

Advocacy & Independent Visitors for Children

Reference number

CSW - 18931

two.1.2) Main CPV code

  • 85000000 - Health and social work services

two.1.3) Type of contract

Services

two.1.4) Short description

Warwickshire County Council and Coventry City Council are jointly contracting for a service providing independent visitors, and independent advocacy, information, advice and support to children and young people in order to meet our statutory obligations.

The service will be provided for children and young people who are receiving a service from WCC or CCC and wish to have the support of an advocate. This includes children and young people who are;

• aged 4 to 18 and looked after under the Children Act 1989, s.20 or s. or 25 if they have special educational needs and/or disability

• care leavers, aged 16 - 25 under the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 and Children & Social Work Act 2017

• subject to a family group conference or child protection conference

• aged 16/17 and presenting as homeless to WCC or CCC

• considering or wishing to make a complaint about the service they receive from WCC or CCC

• young carers who may need support in adulthood (Care Act 2014)

• young people defined as a 'Child In Need' (Children's Act 1989) within private fostering arrangements

two.1.5) Estimated total value

Value excluding VAT: £810,561

two.1.6) Information about lots

This contract is divided into lots: No

two.2) Description

two.2.3) Place of performance

NUTS codes
  • UKG13 - Warwickshire
Main site or place of performance

Generally within the boundaries of Warwickshire County Council and Coventry City Council but also may be outside the boundaries

two.2.4) Description of the procurement

The service is to provide independent visitors, and independent advocacy, information, advice and support to children and young people. The outcomes of the service are:

Be Healthy

Be Safe

Be Happy

Be Skilled

Be Heard

The Advocacy service will be delivered in line with the National Standards for the Provision of Children's Advocacy Services 2023 - National Standards for the Provision of Children and Young People Advocacy Services September 2023.pdf

The Independent Visitors Service will be delivered in line with the National Standards for the Provision of Independent Visitor Services 2016. National Independent Visitor Services 2016

two.2.6) Estimated value

Value excluding VAT: £2,701,870

two.2.7) Duration of the contract or the framework agreement

Duration in months

120

two.2.14) Additional information

The contract will be for 3 years with the option to extend for a minimum of 3 years up to a maximum of 84 months at the discretion of the Council based on the contract performance of the successful applicant. The maximum end date with extensions will be 31st March 2035.


Section three. Legal, economic, financial and technical information

three.1) Conditions for participation

three.1.4) Objective rules and criteria for participation

List and brief description of rules and criteria

All as detailed in the tender documentation.

The Council will undertake its financial assessment of the tendering organisation (and if considered necessary by the Council, any partners within a consortium bid) based on its own

evaluation of the Tenderers most recent 2 years accounts (or if 2 years accounts are not available, equivalent evidence which confirms financial viability). The assessment of accounts will be supported by an independent credit reference report from Creditsafe where this is available. The Council may also impose a Bond or Performance Guarantee on the successful Tenderer


Section four. Procedure

four.1) Description

four.1.1) Form of procedure

Open procedure

four.1.10) Identification of the national rules applicable to the procedure

Information about national procedures is available at: www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/102/contents/made

four.1.11) Main features of the award procedure

All as detailed in the tender documentation

four.2) Administrative information

four.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate

Date

10 November 2024

Local time

10:00am

four.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted

English


Section six. Complementary information

six.2) Information about electronic workflows

Electronic ordering will be used

Electronic invoicing will be accepted

Electronic payment will be used

six.3) Additional information

During the course of the contract period the range and scope of these services may be subject to modification and variation to meet the changing needs and requirements of the

Council and partners, potential changes in legislation and the changing demands placed on the Council by its customers. These changes may include (but are not limited to): -

• Increases or decreases in funding - this will usually be due to reductions or additions in budget allocations as part of the Council and partners' budget setting processes, It may also

be as a consequence of additional funding streams which were unknown at the time of awarding the contract but which are provided to increase the volume of services delivered.

• • Changes in legislation that may for example require the inclusion of new customer groups

• The identification of additional service recipients, not originally captured by the scope of the contract

. Opportunities offered by emerging/ new technologies

• Ongoing performance monitoring indicating a change required in allocations made for each service element from the overall funding amount

Warwickshire County Council will be using its e-tendering system (CSW-JETS) for the administration of this procurement process. Providers must register with the system (if they haven't previously done so) in order to be able to express an interest in the project and download documents. The web address for CSW-JETS is

www.csw-jets.co.uk (https://www.csw-jets.co.uk). Registration and use of CSW-JETS is free.

If you are having trouble registering with CSW-JETS please email us at procurement@warwickshire.gov.uk