Contract for the Provision of a Generic Advocacy Service

The Council of the London Borough of Redbridge (“the Authority”) is seeking Tenders from suitably experienced and qualified organisations for the Contract for the Provision of a Generic Advocacy Service in the London Borough of Redbridge (“the Contract”).

The Contract shall commence on 1st January 2019 and, subject to satisfactory performance, shall continue up to and including 31st December 2021 (“the Contract Period”). At the sole discretion of the Authority and subject to satisfactory performance of the Provider, the Contract Period may be extended in such period or periods as the Authority deems appropriate up to a maximum of two (2) years, providing a possible total Contract Period to midnight on 31st December 2023.

The Contract is for the provision of an advocacy service within the London Borough of Redbridge which shall include statutory services and some non-statutory services.

The statutory advocacy services shall include the following:

• Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy (IMCA). Additionally, IMCA shall be provided by the Provider under the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) MCA where required
• Relevant Persons Representatives (RPRs)
• Rule 1.2 Representatives
• Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA)
• Independent Care Act Advocacy (ICAA)

The non- statutory advocacy services shall include the following:

• Self-Advocacy
• Citizen Advocacy
• Peer Advocacy
• Group Advocacy

The maximum budget available for the Contract is one hundred and ninety thousand pounds (£190,000) per annum. Those submitting a Tender shall be required to deliver all requirements of the Contract within this maximum budget. However, Tenders will be judged on value for money and the Contract may be awarded to an organisation submitting a lower priced Tender where quality of service is assured. Any Tenders submitted above the allocated budget will not be accepted.

Evaluation Criteria:

Organisations shall be experienced in providing similar services and shall also be required, as part of their Tender, to complete a Selection Questionnaire containing information about their economic and financial standing, technical capability and other general information. This information will be assessed to establish that the organisation is financially viable and technically capable of undertaking a service of the nature covered by the Contract. Also, as a pre-condition to their Tenders being evaluated, organisations shall achieve a minimum of six (6) out of ten (10) for Questions 6.4 to 6.7 of the Selection Questionnaire and will have to satisfy the mandatory and discretionary grounds for exclusion contained in the Selection Questionnaire. Full details of how the Authority will evaluate the Selection Questionnaire are contained at the beginning of the Selection Questionnaire.

The Authority carries out financial appraisals of all organisations that Tender for the Authority’s contracts to ensure that such organisations satisfy the Authority’s minimum standards of economic and financial standing. In this instance the Authority has set the following financial threshold for the Contract:

Minimum of two hundred and three thousand pounds (£203,000.00) annual turnover in each of the last two (2) years of trading.

The Authority has also set a ratio of no lower than 8 out of 20 as described more fully in Appendix 2 to
the Selection Questionnaire.

The Authority retains discretion to exclude any organisation that fails to meet this standard.

Organisations shall be aware that only Tenders submitted by organisations who satisfy the requirements of the Selection Questionnaire shall go on to be evaluated in accordance with the Contract Evaluation Criteria of the most economically advantageous Tender received having regard to:

• Technical Ability and Quality 60%; and
• Price 40%

A full breakdown of the Evaluation Criteria is contained in the Tender Documents (Volume C).

The Authority considers that the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 as amended by the Collective Redundancies and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 (“TUPE”) are likely to apply to this Contract. Organisations will be required to comply with their obligations under TUPE without additional cost to the Authority.