IA3354 Alternative Provision Light Touch Framework

The Suppliers who have been successfully awarded onto the Framework will be approached by the Council on a Call-off basis as per the Framework Agreement.

When a child or young person is eligible for support under the Framework a Referral Request Form will be generated by the Council. This will include a profile of the child or young person, an outline of the specific provision required, delivery details and the Call-off Contract term. The Council will issue the Referral Request Form to the Suppliers on the relevant Lot (who are not suspended).

Suppliers should review the Call-off opportunity and must respond only if they are able to deliver the provision as outlined in the Referral Request Form and have the staffing in place to deliver the provision immediately.

To respond to the Call-off opportunity Suppliers must complete and return the Call-off Questionnaire document (that will be attached to the Call-off opportunity). Responses must be received within the required timescales stated in the Call-off. These will be either:

1 Working Day - emergency procedure.

3 Working Days - urgent procedure.

5 Working Days - standard procedure.

The Council reserves the right to extend the closing date and time of any Call-off opportunity, if required, this will be communicated to all Suppliers. Suppliers may also raise clarifications regarding the Call-off opportunity prior to the closing date/time.

The Council may issue additional information or corrections to amend the requirements defined within the Call-off tender documents at any point prior to the closing date. The Council cannot be held liable where Suppliers have not taken these changes into account. The Council makes no guarantee as to the volume of business on offer.

The Supplier must ensure that they can fulfil the conditions as specified within the Referral Request Form prior to submitting a response. The information in the Call-off Questionnaire Referral Request Form will be used to identify the most suitable Suppliers.

The Supplier's responses in the Call-off Questionnaire should be tailored to the child or young person's needs and the provision required, as outlined in the Referral Request Form.

Supplier's must also tender their Price as an hourly rate for the Service delivery of the package of support, which should be in line with their Price submitted in their original Framework tender submission.

Suppliers may modify and replace their tender submission prior to the closing date which replaces the original submission. Suppliers are unable to make any amendments to their Call-off tender submission after the closing date/time unless at the request of the Council. If additional information needs to be provided or responses require clarification or modification, then Suppliers will receive a clarification or an addendum to the requirement.

Suppliers are requested to notify the Council if they wish to withdraw their tender after the closing date due to change in circumstances, for example they no longer have capacity.

Once the Call-off opportunity closes, the Council will evaluate Supplier responses using the Framework tender scoring mechanism and weightings as per the Framework Agreement and below:

Call-off Questionnaire Referral Request Form Compliance Questions - Pass/Fail

Quality 60% - Call-off Questionnaire including two (2) Quality questions weighted at 30% each.

Price 40%.

The Council may disregard a submission where a Supplier fails to achieve a score of 3 i.e. a Satisfactory and acceptable response, or greater score for any of the quality question responses.

Following the evaluation, if the highest ranked Supplier can meet the relevant individual's needs, the educational package required and offers value for money then the Council shall accept the offer and arrange for the Order Form to be completed and issued to the Supplier for signature. The Council shall notify any unsuccessful Providers that their tender submission has been unsuccessful.

Only one (1) Supplier will generally be awarded per Call-off Contract. Where two or more highest ranking Suppliers have achieved the same score in their final total (the sum of priced and non-priced) scores: the Authority will require the Suppliers to re-price their tender submissions, the successful Supplier will be the one with the highest total score to 2 (rounded) decimal places. Where a successful Supplier cannot be identified based on price, the Authority reserves the right to issue a scored tie-breaker question to those tied Suppliers.

Where the circumstances so warrant (for example in the event of a systems failure) the Council may: -

Postpone for a reasonable period the closing time and date for receipt of tenders. In this event all Suppliers from whom tenders have been invited will be notified by the same method and no tenders will be opened until the revised date.

Reserve the option to award Call-off Contracts, to Suppliers on the Framework, contacted by other means including telephone.

If the Authority is unable to award a Call-off Contract after two (2) attempts e.g. due to no tender responses being received, the Council reserves the right to direct award the Call-off Contract to a Supplier on the relevant Lot.

The Authority may also grant a direct award to a specific Supplier on the Framework rather than following the Referral process if a child or young person has been receiving Alternative Provision from the same Supplier prior to needing Alternative Provision commissioned by the Authority via the Framework. This could have been in place by the prior authority or school as a preventative measure to avoid exclusion or breakdown of relationship between an educational setting and the child or young person, or as a way to meet need due to illness and/or SEND.

The Authority may also award a Call-off Contract to a Supplier on the Framework without competition in any other circumstances where the Authority, acting reasonably, determines that an award without competition is the most appropriate means of securing the required services.

Whilst the majority of Call-off Contracts will be for an individual child or young person the Council may from time-to-time Call-off a block Contract for multiple placements for children and young people, from the relevant Framework Lot. In this circumstance the Referral Request Form may be replaced by a supplemental Service Specification, if appropriate. This process will be carried out through a mini competition

On occasion a block Call-off Contract might be required that encompasses elements of two (2) or more Lots. On those occasions only Suppliers who are registered on all relevant Lots will be able to submit for that Call-off opportunity. Documents will be issued across all the relevant Lots with an explanation of how the submission should be sent to the Council. If a Supplier submits who is not on all the Lots their submission will not be considered.

Education, as outlined in the Contract, must be in place from the Service Commencement Date. If the successful Provider does not have Staff in place to deliver the Contract by the required start date the Council may terminate the Contract and approach the second ranked Provider in the Call-off process to deliver the Service.

Suppliers must ensure that they have the appropriate resources to fully meet the requirements of the Contract (e.g. sufficient capacity of available appropriately qualified Staff/tutors, Information Technology (IT) facilities etc.).