Agenda item

Report ACH21-018

The Committee considered a Gateway 0 report advising them of the work that was being undertaken by commissioners in preparation for the end of contract and detailed procurement options for the Primary and Secondary Intervention Service.

The Primary and Secondary Intervention Service contract would expire on 30^th September 2022 with no further extension options remaining. This service was currently delivered by Bromley Third Sector Enterprise and provided integrated prevention and early intervention services across health and social care for the residents of Bromley. The service was jointly commissioned by London Borough of Bromley (LBB) and Bromley Clinical Commissioning Group (BCCG) with LBB as the lead commissioner. LBB and BCCG jointly attend contract meetings and had joint representation on the Bromley Programme Board, which currently oversaw operational delivery of the contract.

The current contract had an estimated annual value of £2.5m and was awarded on a 3 plus 2 year contract basis. The contract commenced on the 1^st October 2017 and was due to expire on the 30^th of September 2022. In line with current procurement guidance, commissioners would conduct a soft market test to determine the availability of suppliers in the market to deliver the service and use this exercise to inform the procurement options. It was noted that commissioners would provide a Gateway 1 report to the Committee in June 2021 which would detail procurement options and the recommended commissioning approach.

The Integrated Strategic Commissioner advised Members that the basis for recommending to proceed with Option 2 (Conduct a Soft Market Test to inform procurement options) was that it allowed commissioners to use early market engagement to talk to the supplier market before the start of the procurement process and bench mark it against current supplier products. It also provided an opportunity to refine/refresh the service specification/offer. In response to a question from the Chairman, the Integrated Strategic Commissioner said that the soft market testing did not oblige commissioners to procure the service.

A Member enquired as to when the Committee would have sight of the specification and KPIs for the contract and be given an opportunity to comment on and recommend amendments if necessary. The Assistant Director for Integrated Commissioning noted that the report provided an early indication of the procurement process that would be undertaken. It was intended that consultation with the market would be completed before the specification was designed and it was anticipated that details of the specification would be brought back to the Committee in early autumn. The Director of Adult Social Care assured Members that sufficient time had been included in the timeframe of the process to allow for discussion and debate.

A Member considered that any intelligence gathered at the present time as part a market review may not necessarily be useful in the longer term as the roadmap out of the pandemic was still hypothetical. The Member enquired if a stronger line on managing conflicts of interest would be taken to ensure that people were signposted to the most appropriate service. The Integrated Strategic Commissioner responded that as part of the soft market test they would be looking at other models to see if they enabled a clearer way of managing conflict of interest. During their service review, Bromley Third Sector Enterprise had been asked to strengthen their governance process, particularly related to managing partners and having independent board members.

The Member further noted that a clear framework was needed to ensure that the service was not wholly reliant on the volunteers to deliver the contract. The Integrated Strategic Commissioner said that the pandemic had highlighted the role that volunteers could play in helping to deliver services, however they would not be relied on to sustain them. This would be considered as part of the soft market testing.

RESOLVED that the Executive be recommended to approve the option to conduct a Soft Market Test prior to submitting a Gateway 1 report to the Adult Care and Health PDS Committee in June 2021.