Direct Payment Support Services

Essex County Council (ECC) is inviting appropriately qualified and experienced suppliers to tender for the County wide ‘Direct Payment Support Service’. Through this service, ECC aims to support people in Essex, who use Direct Payments to retain as much independence, choice and control as possible, over the care and support that they receive.

This will be achieved through supporting the following service outcomes; • Individuals have a care and support plan in place, operating effectively within the agreed budget • Individuals are making payments for solutions identified in care and support plans in a timely, efficient and person-centred way • Individuals have successfully recruited and employed personal assistants and other staff and are effectively managing them

The services will support the Councils strategy for promoting and increasing numbers of people with Personal Budgets and the continued uptake of Direct Payments.

This contract will be split into 3 distinct ‘Lots’, as follows; • Lot 1 - Support Planning Services • Lot 2 - Payment Services • Lot 3 – Employer Advice & Guidance

Tenderers are able to bid for one, two or all three lots, as appropriate.

This service will support both Adults and Children and their families, being accessible to individuals of all ages and across the range of eligible social care needs, who utilise Direct Payments. It is envisaged that during the contract term, integrated Health & Social Care Personal budgets will be introduced with increasing numbers over time. As yet, timelines for introduction are unconfirmed; however, the services contract will also be open to the 5 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG's) operating within Essex.

The contracts will be awarded to a maximum of 3 providers, although ECC reserves the right to award all 3 ‘Lots’ to one provider should this offer best value.

It is ECC expectation that all successful providers will work with the extended market, where appropriate, to ensure that all individuals’ needs are met.

ECC welcomes interested parties from all market sectors, including the Third Sector and the contracts will commence during June 2017.

To receive the Tender documents, please register your interest in this opportunity via ECC’s electronic procurement system Ariba, via the message board email2workspace-prod+ECC+WS697595174+zg94@ansmtp.ariba.com

Additional information: Expressions of interest must be by way of completion and return of the Invitation to Tender (ITT) by the date and time specified. Online access to the procurement documentation can be found at Contracts Finder andwww.essex.gov.uk/Business-Partners/Supplying-Council/documents/Procurement_Opportunities.xls Potential bidders should contact Essex County Council requesting to be invited to this tendering event by following these instructions: 1. Send an email with your organisation name in the subject title field to: email2workspace-prod+ECC +WS697595174+zg94@ansmtp.ariba.com asking to be invited to this event and providing your contact name and Supplier ID/User ANID from your Ariba Registration Details. 2. If you have more than 1 registered user who you want invited to the event, provide the name(s) of each registered user in your request as it may not be possible to include additional users at a later stage. If you are not registered in Ariba at all, go to: ‘http://ecc.supplier.ariba.com/ad/register/SSOActions? type=full’ and follow the instructions to register then follow Steps 1 and 2 above. (Please note: 35 % completion (i.e.mandatory fields only: organisation/user details, commodity, sales territory) is the minimum required for your Ariba cloud registration, you do not need to reach 100 % completion). The supplier portal will be used throughout the procurement process, and all communications with Essex County Council relating to this procurement exercise must be via the supplier portal. The supplier portal has instructions on how to use the system and access the information as well as a help desk to assist Bidders. Essex County Council reserves the right to cancel the procurement exercise and/or not to award all or part of a contract. Essex County Council will not be responsible for any costs incurred by Providers in relation to this procurement exercise.