Wednesday 27 November 2019

Probation Sale - Best and Final Offer!

As we all know, despite the utter failure of TR, the Tory government decided in May to continue with new contracts for certain probation functions and the MoJ duly published the relevant contract notices on the 13th November. The privateers are circling once more:-

United Kingdom-London: Probation services
2019/S 222-544675
Contract notice
Services


Organisations will deliver interventions and rehabilitative services such as Unpaid Work (UPW), Accredited Programmes (APs) and other resettlement and rehabilitation activities. The Authority will procure those services via:

A one-off procurement of Probation Delivery Partners (to be referred to as Suppliers) responsible for the delivery of APs, UPW and other structured interventions in the areas of emotional management, domestic abuse and attitude, thinking and behaviours, which is the subject of this OJEU Contract Notice

A Dynamic Framework for the delivery of all other resettlement and rehabilitation services which the Authority intends to advertise and procure separately.

For this procurement, there will be twelve (12) newly formed regions, eleven (11) in England and one in Wales. Each region will have a Supplier to provide APs, UPW and other structured interventions in the areas of emotional management, domestic abuse and attitude, thinking and behaviours. Each Supplier will be expected to provide all services (as defined more particularly in the draft contract documentation), working closely with the NPS.

Mandatory/Core services: delivery of Building Better Relationships (BBR) and Thinking Skills Programme (TSP); delivery of Unpaid Work requirements; delivery of the following Accredited Programmes in areas where they are currently delivered: Resolve, Drink Impaired Drivers Programme (DIDP), Building Skills for Recovery (BSR), Breaking Free Online; design and delivery of structured interventions in the areas of emotional management, domestic abuse and attitudes, thinking and behaviours (ATB).

The Authority may from time to time request that the Supplier provide optional services. These include but are not limited to: designing, testing and delivering of new interventions (including working with the Authority to achieve accreditation of that new intervention); delivery of additional Accredited Programmes; delivery of additional structured interventions in the areas of emotional management, attitude, thinking and behaviours (ATB) and domestic abuse.

The services to be provided under this contract are classified as health, social and other services within Schedule 3 of the Public Contracts Regulations (PCR) 2015, therefore the Authority shall conduct this procurement in accordance with the “Light Touch Regime” (LTR). The procurement includes a qualification stage and subsequent award stage which include an Invitation to Tender, face to face meetings and Best and Final Offers (BAFO). The Authority reserves the right not to carry out the face to face meetings.

The Authority has conducted market engagement in relation to this procurement. To ensure fairness to all economic operators, the Authority will make available details of all information shared with the market via the eSourcing tool and has provided adequate timescales for SQ/tender submissions, and an extended clarification period.

The Authority is not liable for any costs incurred by economic operators in relation to this procurement. The Authority reserves the right to abandon or terminate the procurement (or any part of it) at its discretion. Participation in this procurement process is subject to the terms and conditions in the procurement documents and the e-sourcing portal terms of use.


--oo00oo--

Bidders may tender for more than one lot. Only one tender per lot is permitted, i.e. per lot, a Bidder can bid either as prime bidder OR as part of a consortium. It is permissible to be named as a subcontractor on multiple tenders (from multiple Bidders) per lot.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Authority will award contracts based on the combined lowest price per quality point across lots, SUBJECT to the lot award tool, including the rules below on market share and financial standing. This results in the most economically advantageous position for the Authority on a national level, subject to these rules. There is a possibility therefore that a Bidder who provides the most economically advantageous tender for a single lot may not be awarded that lot if it would result in that Bidder failing the market share rule or if the Bidder could not comply with the financial standing rules. Accordingly, Bidders tendering for multiple lots will not have a choice over which lot they may be awarded.

Market Share Rule - The maximum a Bidder will be awarded as a lot or a combination of lots up to a maximum market share of 31 % as described in the ITT (subject to any exceptions set out in the ITT). The market share rule will be applied at a Bidder level and will be calculated as the total of:

a) market share of Bidder entity

b) market share of any entity in which the Bidder is a consortium member

c) market share of any entity in the same corporate group as a Bidder

Where a Bidder is a consortium comprising more than one entity and any one of those entities is also part of another Bidder, whether as a single entity or as part of another consortium, the rule is applied to the entity based on its shareholdings within each consortium. The proportionate share a Bidder holds in a consortium will be taken account of as part of the market share calculation.

Financial Standing Rule – Bidders must have the minimum capital requirements specified in the ITT for each individual lot they bid for. If Bidders bid for more than one lot, they must meet these requirements for each lot they will be awarded.

Successful SQ applicants will join the Qualification List, which addresses lot failure during the procurement. If a lot does not receive any suitable tenders, the Authority will lift the market share rule for the failed lot and will invite Bidders on the Qualification List who meet the financial standing rule, to submit proposals via a mini-competition for the failed lot(s) on the same or substantially similar basis as the main procurement. Further details on the Qualification List are detailed within the ITT.

Following contract award, all Suppliers will join a Contingency Panel. In the event of contract failure in one or more lots (a Failed Lot), the Authority may choose to invite the Suppliers on the Contingency Panel to participate in a mini-competition for the Failed Lot. Further details are set out in the ITT.

In accordance with the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, the Authority must consider: (a) how what is proposed to be procured might improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of the area where it exercises its functions, and (b) how in conducting the process of procurement it might act with a view to securing that improvement. Accordingly, the Authority has taken this into account when designing the procurement.


Total contract value excluding VAT £1,263 million over 8 years. Closing date 16th Dec 2019 12:00 noon. 

7 comments:

  1. Northeast - £66m
    Northwest - £107m
    YorksHumb - £123m
    Wales - £91m
    Westmids - £131m
    Eastmids - £84m
    Southwest - £95m
    Southcent - £81m
    Easteng - £141m
    London - £184m
    kss - £83m
    Gtrmanc - £77m

    £1.2bn over 8 years = £150m/year

    "Parliament is dissolved 25 working days before a general election at a minute past midnight.

    There are rules in relation to the conduct of government business during the pre-election period. These are given to civil servants during this period which is sometimes known as 'purdah'."

    Election = 12 Dec 2019
    25 'working days' = 7 Nov 2019

    ?Should these notices have been published during the period of purdah?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If Bozo The Clown somehow doesn't make it back into Number 10 or, more likely, doesn't have a working majority - what happens on "Closing date 16th Dec 2019 12:00 noon." ???

      Delete
  2. From The Times 24/11/19:-

    Mitie sues over contract for courts

    The outsourcing giant Mitie is suing the Ministry of Justice over what it claims was a botched contract tender to clean and repair courts and tribunal buildings. The £2.2bn turnover company has lodged a High Court claim over the contract, which it lost last month to French rival Engie.

    Mitie says the government took an “unfair and unequal” approach to scoring the tender, and awarded scores that were “manifestly wrong”.

    Since 2012, Mitie has carried out facilities management at courts in the south of England, including maintenance, security and cleaning. Court documents show it hopes to claim more than £200,000 in damages from the government, and is demanding that Engie is stripped of the contract.

    Shares in Mitie have slumped in the past month, including…

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. With the Tories pledging to be much tougher on crime and punishment, longer sentences and more hours of unpaid work and tougher community sentences, then the MoJ are already bent over the corporate barrel before a contract is even signed.
      All the privateers have to say is things have changed since we singed up, not our fault, so give us more money or we'll have to sue.
      I wonder too if the smaller fish looking for a few quid from all this will remember that "subcontractor" really means "bid candy".

      I really find it all very disturbing. It tasks the private sector with the wholesale responsibility for the rehabilitation of offenders, and there's something very very unpleasant about putting that task in the hands of big business.
      I think too its very damaging for the probation service as a whole
      Who'll be obligated to keep "supply chains" flowing and ensure there's always enough bums on the seats of whatever courses the private sector are running, relevent or not.
      What really is the role of the probation officer to be? Data imputter and a patsy for SFOs? A recruiting agency to feed the corporations?
      I think this may be a bigger cock up then splitting probation, and it certainly won't be any good for the client.

      'Getafix

      Delete
    2. I'm straying off topic, and it's a long read, but similar issues are embedded in the outsourcing of all public services, and I think people should be aware of how corrupt outsourcing can be.
      Serco a Public Authority?

      https://ukhumanrightsblog-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/ukhumanrightsblog.com/2019/11/26/lock-change-evictions-of-unsuccessful-asylum-seekers-lawful-court-of-session/amp/?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCKAE%3D#aoh=15748514734129&amp_ct=1574851485793&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fukhumanrightsblog.com%2F2019%2F11%2F26%2Flock-change-evictions-of-unsuccessful-asylum-seekers-lawful-court-of-session%2F

      'Getafix

      Delete
  3. oh dear nevermind! https://www.ft.com/content/c7cd9874-07a1-11ea-9afa-d9e2401fa7ca

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The troubled government contractor Interserve has abolished the role of chief executive in a move that paves the way for an eventual break up of the construction and support services company.

      Debbie White, chief executive for the past two years, will step down next month and will not be replaced. Instead, the company will strengthen the leadership of its three divisions — construction, support services and its profitable equipment services subsidiary, RMDK. Ms White had already told the company of her intention to leave.

      Interserve, which employs 69,000 staff worldwide and 45,000 in the UK, was taken into the hands of creditors in March this year in a deal that wiped out the value of about 16,500 smaller shareholders.

      The government, lenders and the board had been keen to avoid another high-profile collapse of a government outsourcer so soon after Carillion, a rival contractor, which went into liquidation in January last year.

      The company employs twice the number of people as Carillion, and earns almost 70 per cent of its income from the UK government delivering key services, including probation, hospital cleaning and home nursing.

      In a statement, Alan Lovell, chairman, said the new operating structure would “ensure that we are well placed to continue this work . . . enable them to deliver sustainable growth in the distinct markets they serve.”

      Stephen Rawlinson, analyst at Applied Value, said that a “break-up was inevitable; it was just a matter of time”.

      RMDK, which accounts for about half of operating profits, had earlier been ringfenced by lenders — which include high street banks HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland and hedge funds Davidson Kempner, Cerberus, Angelo Gordon and Emerald Investment Partners — in return for wiping out £480m of its debt and injecting £110m equity.

      The division is widely expected to be sold off, though Interserve said there were no immediate plans to sell any of the businesses. “It’s a buyer’s market and I can’t imagine there aren’t a lot of private equity buyers that will be waiting to buy it,” said Mr Rawlinson.

      Although the company has won millions of pounds in contracts and contract extensions since March’s deleveraging, it has continued to be plagued by lossmaking contracts, including its disastrous foray into energy from waste plants.

      On Thursday Interserve was forced to write off a £22m investment in a joint venture set up to deliver a Derbyshire energy-from-waste plant.

      Interserve’s troubles earlier this year came as another blow to the outsourcing sector, which has faced a series of profit warnings. Kier, another public sector outsourcer, is also fighting for survival while Amey, owned by Ferrovial, is up for sale.

      The Labour party has also pledged to curtail outsourcing of public sector work even as the government presses ahead with fresh deals, including a decision to outsource bailiffs for the Ministry of Justice, which was announced last week.

      Delete