Death By a Thousand Cuts

Although we've won all the arguments about TR, we've clearly not won the battle and the omnishambles rumbles on making a misery of all our lives. We all know it will end in disaster but the government and most politicians seem either incapable or unwilling to listen to reason or argument, which means other methods must be found to stop this madness. 

There's one aspect of this whole daft idea that the government has little control over and that's the potential bidders. Ironically, they are essential to the success or failure of the whole enterprise, but are only influenced by the usual forces of capitalism. Even the well-meaning staff mutuals or cuddly third sector charities have to focus on the hard economics of how to turn a profit from peoples misery and increasingly we know many are getting cold feet. To put things in a nutshell, if there are no bidders, there's no TR. Full stop. So, with this firmly in mind, I was heartened to read this comment left yesterday:-

I know you read all the postings and with various commitments I don't get chance to read this til late at night, but I wanted to share some nuggets that I have been mining over several days.
 
You have seen the runners and riders of the competition but what is not reported is the number that are pulling out of the process. There is evidence that the initial fanfare that there is a good group of bidders, some may have said "best in class"(!!) bidding for each CPA is beginning to dwindle.

You have heard of the Hampshire mutual stepping out, but there are some of the big boys stepping back from interest in CPA's.

To name them would undoubtedly compromise the source but you have heard that there is an approach from MoJ to get more companies to have another look at what they wish to bid for - but large nationals , multinationals and consortia are having second thoughts about bidding. We will not see for certain because of competition processes but the word is that 4/5 big companies will mop up the whole lot, and the mutuals .....bid candy !!
 
Sorry to say some staff mutuals are beaten before they even place pen on paper. The Danny Shaw report suggested that the MoJ procurement was going to do an excellent job, they have, however, not gone down well with prospective bidders. The TOM is still incomplete, staff unrest continues, setting up the training for new processes is shockingly inadequate, key staff from Trusts are leaving, some Trust are having to recruit or use agency staff which all means the bidders are becoming increasingly concerned on what will be "for sale". 

The drip, drip, drip of reputational damaging news is also taking its toll, and the realisation from some bidders that they just do not have a capacity to try and take on the CPA will only add to this. 

This is the full lineup of circling privateers the MoJ published a few weeks ago and it would be interesting to hear more news of any pulling out:-  

CPA no.	CPA area	Potential Bidders
1.	Northumbria	Northern Inclusion Consortium Sodexo Justice Services The Rehabilitation Company Working links
2.	Cumbria and Lancashire	CRR Partnership GMC Sodexo Innovo (CLM) Limited Interserve Sodexo Justice Services The Rehabilitation Company
3.	Durham and Cleveland	ARCC Northern Inclusion Consortium Pertemps People Development Group Sodexo Justice Services Working links
4.	North Yorkshire, Humberside and Lincolnshire	CRR Partnership EOS Geo Delta Interserve Sodexo Justice Services The Rehabilitation Company
5.	West Yorkshire	CRR Partnership EOS Interserve MTC Amey Northern Inclusion Consortium Prospects Resolutions Sodexo Justice Services The GEO Group The Rehabilitation Company

6.	Cheshire and Greater Manchester	CRR Partnership EOS GMC Sodexo Interserve MTC Amey Seetec Business Technology Centre Limited The Manchester College The Rehabilitation Company
7.	Merseyside	a4e CRR Partnership GMC Sodexo Innovo (CLM) Limited Interserve MTC Amey Sodexo Justice Services The Rehabilitation Company
8.	South Yorkshire	a4e CRR Partnership EOS Inerserve MTC Amey Prospects Resolutions Sodexo Justice Services The GEO Group The Rehabilitation Company
9.	Staffordshire and West Midlands	Capita Business Services CRR Partnership EOS Home Group (Stonham) Ingeus MTC Amey Seetec Business Technology Centre Limited Sentinel Offender Services LLC The GEO Group The Rehabilitation Company
10.	Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire	a4e CRR Partnership EOS Ingeus Interserve Momentis and Homegroup Sentinel Offender Services LLC Working links
11.	Wales	Crime Reduction Initiatives (CRI) Sodexo Justice Services Working links

12	West Mercia and Warwickshire	Capita Business Services EOS MCA and Homegroup Pertemps People Development Group Sentinel Offender Services LLC The GEO Group The Rehabilitation Company
13	Gloucestershire, Avon, Somerset and Wiltshire	Interserve Prospects Services Shaw Trust The Rehabilitation Company Working links
14	Dorset, Devon and Cornwall	Shaw Trust The GEO Group Working links
15	Hampshire	a4e Capita Business Services Crime Reduction Initiatives (CRI) Hampshire Rehabilitation services Interserve Shaw Trust
16	Thames Valley	a4e Capita Business Services Home Group (Stonham) Interserve MTC Amey Prospects Services Shaw Trust The GEO Group
17	Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire	Home Group (Stonham) Ingeus Interserve Seetec Business Technology Centre Limited Sodexo Justice Services
18	Norfolk and Suffolk	a4e Home Group (Stonham) MTC Amey Seetec Business Technology Centre Limited Sodexo Justice Services
19	Essex	a4e Aspire2 change Capita Business Services Home Group (Stonham) MTC Amey Seetec Business Technology Centre Limited Sodexo Justice Services Seetec Business Technology Centre Ltd Sodexo Justice Services

20	London	Capita Business Services CRR Partnership MTC Amey
21	Kent Surrey and Sussex	a4e Capita Business Services Chalk Ventures CRR Partnership MTC Amey Seetec Business Technology Centre Limited

Here's another interesting snippet from the Napo Forum on the subject of drip, drip, drip:-

I heard the story and now I've heard so much of his dribble I don't get quite so angry. He may have been expecting more grievances but I don't think he was expecting as many FOI requests. A source at NOMS tells me it has used resources they don't have and really slowed them down. Members, friends and family members need to keep up with the FOI's and be creative in your questions. The ICO are onto them for delays in responding so they are being monitored from the afar so get the message out there to all and sundry 

To slightly bend a well-known adage, I guess the message has to be one of 'death by a thousand cuts'. If we are to win the battle as well as the argument, it has to be by means of lots of relatively small actions.