1516-121 Domiciliary Care Services

Islington Council invites suitable expressions of interest from suppliers for the provision of comprehensive Domiciliary Care within the London Borough of Islington.

Current status / Background
Islington Housing and Adult Social Services currently deliver domiciliary care services through three cost and volume contracts with external providers, delivering approximately 563,187 actual hours of care, averaging 10,800 actual hours of care per week to approximately 835 service users. The current service provides a broad range of care and support options delivered across the full range of client groups, older people, mental health, global learning disabilities, sensory impairment and physical disability, catering for specific service user need, cultural, religious and other preferences.

Service users include people aged 18 years and over who meet the Fair Access to Care Services criteria and whom the Council determine require the provision of a comprehensive domiciliary care service.

The current contract expires in May 2019.

The requirement

Contract:
The council is seeking to appoint up to six (6) different organisations to provide a comprehensive domiciliary care service with a cost and volume contract model that seeks to extend the range of options available for people accessing the service. The Council will guarantee a minimum weekly number of six hundred (600) hours during the initial contract term for each contract.

Strategic priorities:
The Council aims to take this commissioning opportunity to refocus the borough’s response to meeting the need for domiciliary care services within the current national and local context. It intends to maximise opportunities for procuring services that can facilitate the development of the personalisation agenda, and extend choice and control through self-directed support.

Therefore, the Council expects organisations to deliver services that are adaptable and flexible; that can support and facilitate service user choice to meet the challenges of daily living whilst enabling them to live as full and active citizens. Staff, managers and the organisation as a whole will be expected to have the ability to change practice and learn new skills and competencies to meet new challenges and needs.

Service scope:

• Categories of delivery
Personal care; Cleaning and house care; Shopping; Night Sitting, Night Sleeping and Day Sitting; Emergency Service; Respite Service; Visiting Service; Escorting; Social Activities; Support Planning; Skills Development.

• Service User Diversity
The Council expects that organisations will cater for the majority of its residents’ domiciliary care needs and as such expects the workforce of the providers to reflect the diversity of the borough. Through appropriate workforce recruitment, providers will be expected to meet all client group specific needs; a range of cultural and religious needs, irrespective of their age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and sex. Service users may have a history of substance misuse, be physically frail, and/or have learning or cognitive difficulties, mental health problems (including but not limited to depression, confusion, dementia, Alzheimer’s).

• Geographical Location
The Provider must accept referrals for and have capacity to provide services to service users who live anywhere in the London Borough of Islington. However, depending on the outcome of the procurement, the decision may be made to mirror the configuration of the Council’s care management teams and split the borough into two (2) locality areas, North (Archway), and South (Calshot). This would mean the Council would seek to work with up to three (3) Providers in the north of the borough and up to three (3) in the South. Therefore, the Providers will organise the way in which the service is provided on a locality basis with the aim of achieving a local, effective and efficient service. This decision will be taken at the start of the implementation period.

• Operation

Services will operate from an accessible administrative base and provide care visits twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week, 365 days a year to adults resident in the London Borough of Islington and may include out of boroughs. The service will require full management cover for all the operational hours of the service. The service must be provided from an office base that is adequate for the purposes of administration, security, and care worker supervision and training. The office base should be inside or close to the Islington Borough boundary and easily accessible by public transport.

Lots

This contract is not being split into lots because we are seeking to appoint up to six (6) contractors to cover the whole borough.


TUPE [Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations]

Potential providers must be aware that TUPE may or may not apply to this service. Further details will be available in the invitation to tender.

Contract Period

The contract period will be for four (4) years from an estimated start date 1 April 2018 with option to extend up to a further four (4) years (24 months + 24 months).

Contract Value

The estimated total value of these contracts is £78 million over the maximum eight (8) years term of the contract. This is based on £8.9 million per annum.

The hourly rate for the service is fixed at £17.10 per hour. Any bids over this amount will be disqualified.

To drive quality, service providers of this contract will be offered an incentive payment if predefined quality indicators are met during the duration of the contract. The incentive payment would be on top of the commissioned hourly rate.
The aim of this scheme is to promote quality in the services commissioned and the wider sector. The payments should not be included in the cost modelling of the service. Providers will therefore need to consider how they will operate a financially stable domiciliary care service for the borough without the inclusion of these payments.
Award criteria

The contract will be awarded to the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations. MEAT for this contract is quality 90% and cost 10%. Further details will be provided in the invitation to tender.

Cost 10%
Quality 90% - made up of:
Proposed approach to Operational Delivery (including workforce development) - 20%
Proposed approach to Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults and Risk Management - 20%
Proposed approach to Customer Care – 25%
Proposed approach to Quality Assurance and Continuous Improvement – 25%

Total 100%

Tenderers should be aware that we reserve the right to hold site visits and/or presentations and/or interviews during the tender process. Site visits and/or presentations and/or interviews will be for verification/clarification purposes of the written submission.

We reserve the right to interview leading bidders.