Living Well and Early Help Service for Adults on the Isle of Wight

Due to the technical and operational implications arising from TUPE transfer, service mobilisation and continuity requirements, the Authority considers that 6(a) and (b) of Schedule 5 applies where the following conditions are met in relation to the public contract-

(a)due to an absence of competition for technical reasons, only a particular supplier can supply the services required, and

(b)there are no reasonable alternatives to the service.

Only a particular supplier, the incumbent, can supply the services required without a potential gap in provision if the supplier changed and there are no reasonable alternatives to this service at this time. The service is for vulnerable people and the risk to continuity of care and the meeting of statutory obligations is deemed unreasonable.

Furthermore, whilst other providers may exist in the market, it is not considered reasonable to change provider for a temporary 12 month arrangement. Conducting a full procurement for a short interim contract would create disproportionate costs and operational disruption through TUPE transfer, mobilisation and transition activities. Any alternative provider would need to establish new referral pathways, data sharing arrangements, workforce structures and partnership arrangements for a limited contract period whilst the wider service model is being reviewed and redesigned. This would create an unacceptable risk to continuity of support for vulnerable adults and would not represent a reasonable alternative in the circumstances.

Only Aspire can realistically deliver the service at this point in time, and there are no reasonable alternatives.

The Living Well and Early Help contract is due to be reprocured for April 2027.

We have met with Public Health colleagues who, following initial discussions, are now keen to provide financial support for the future procurement. However, they have said that they would first like to undertake a wider public consultation and feel there is insufficient time to complete this within the current procurement timeframe. They have requested additional time to carry out this work which will enable them to financially contribute to the service. There would be complex and time consuming inefficiencies if we were to look to switch suppliers without allowing time to understand the impacts and future approach required for the service.

We are therefore seeking to extend the Living Well and Early Help contract via a direct award. We have already used the full extension within the current contract, ordinarily we would need to go back out to the market, but that isn't considered feasible for a short 12 month period due to TUPE and mobilisation impacts.

If we were to retender in order to carry out the necessary period of consultation, it could have negative consequences on the vulnerable people the service is supporting. For example;

• A new provider could not immediately replicate the current Living Well and Early Help model, this could result in technical and operational disruption to the delivery of the statutory preventative service.
• Additionally migration to a new provider would require substantial data migration, system integration, information governance assurance and training, creating disproportionate technical difficulties and risks to the continuity of the service
• Transition at this point could create disruption to those currently using the service, due to case transfers, reconfiguration of referral routes, re-establishing trusted relationships and reassessments of service users.

-There is also a limited local provider market that would have the infrastructure to support this within the time scale. Alongside this a procurement would likely attract only the incumbent or a very small number of providers.

In summary the current provider delivers an integrated prevention and early help service which is operationally embedded within ASC pathways, referral mechanisms, data sharing arrangements and community support networks. A change of provider during the proposed public consultation and service redesign period would require substantial migration of live cases, reconfiguration of referral pathways, establishment of new information sharing, workforce mobilisation and retraining and reintegration with partner agencies. This would create disproportionate technical and operational difficulties and present a risk to the continuity of support for vulnerable adults. A direct award for 12 months is therefore necessary to maintain service continuity while the future model is developed through consultation and then procured. A UK6 notice will now be published and will commence a standstill period.