Advocacy Services for Looked After Children, Children with a Disability, Children in Child Protection Process

East Renfrewshire Council on behalf of the Health & Social Care Partnership is inviting tenders, from suitably qualified providers for the Provision of Children Advocacy Services.

East Renfrewshire's Health and Social Care Partnership has an ongoing requirement to provide an independent professional advocacy service for children and young people who are or have been looked after including referrals relating to children involved in the Child Protection process, those with a learning or any other disability and young carers.

This procurement will be conducted via the Public Contracts Scotland - Tender portal (PCS-T). We will apply a one stage Open procedure.

Bidders must self-certify their adherence to the conditions of participation via the SPD (Scotland) in PSC-T, and may be required to submit Means of Proof before contract award. Bidders must refer to the specific requirements listed in Section III in this OJEU Contract Notice when completing the SPD in PCS-T.

The anticipated start date for the contract is mid April. The contract is for an initial period of 2 years plus optional 2 x 1-year extensions. It should be noted that extensions are available at the discretion of the Council and are not guaranteed.

The estimated value shown below is reflective of the full 4 years being offered. This is not guaranteed.

Lots are not being used for this tender for the reason(s) stated below:

Nature of the contract not suitable for lots.

Prompt Payment-The successful tenderer shall, as a condition of being awarded the contract, be required to demonstrate to the council's satisfaction that all funds due to the tenderer's permitted sub-contractors in respect of these services are paid timeously and that as a minimum invoices rendered by subcontractors shall(unless formally disputed by the tenderer)be paid within 30 days

of receipt. The successful tenderer shall also impose this condition on its subcontractors in respect of payments due to any sub-sub-contractors, if any.

The Council reserves the right to request copies of insurance certificates from bidders at any point during the contract period. Failure to supply the information within timeframe requested may result in your bid being rejected & the Council proceeding with the procurement exercise to the next appropriate bidder. Additional information pertaining to this contract notice is contained within the Tender documents. Applicants must ensure they read in line with this contract notice.

Bidders who intend to use a supply chain to deliver the requirements detailed in the Contract Notice, must confirm they have (or have access to) the relevant supply chain management and tracking systems to ensure a resilient and sustainable supply chain. Bidders must provide a response at SPD Q4.C.4 and this will include confirmation that they have the systems in place to pay subcontractors through the supply chain promptly and effectively, and provide evidence when requested of:

a) their standard payment terms.

b) ≥95% of all supply chain invoices being paid on time (in accordance with the terms of contract) in the last financial year.

Bidders unable to confirm (b) must provide an improvement plan, signed by their Director, which improves payment performance. It should be noted that where a bidder is unable to confirm or provide a satisfactory improvement plan the Council reserves the right to remove you from the process.

Bidders are required to confirm whether they intend to subcontract and, if so, for what proportion of the contract.

Bidders who intend to subcontract more than 25% to any individual organisation must ensure the SPD (Scotland) - Subcontractors Supplier Response is completed and uploaded at question 2C.1 of the qualification envelope.

The buyer is using PCS-Tender to conduct this ITT exercise. The Project code is 29848. For more information see: http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/info/InfoCentre.aspx?ID=2343

A sub-contract clause has been included in this contract. For more information see: http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/info/InfoCentre.aspx?ID=2363

Community benefits are included in this requirement. For more information see: https://www.gov.scot/policies/public-sector-procurement/community-benefits-in-procurement/

A summary of the expected community benefits has been provided as follows:

Community Benefits has been included as a mandatory requirement. Minimum Community Benefit Points (CBP) Required - 100.