Decision details

Date Of Decision:

29^th  August 2019

Decision Maker:

(Including Job Title)

Anne Marie Lubanski

Strategic Director of Adult Care. Housing and Public Health

Specific Delegation:

(If any)

Authority delegated by Council on 25 July 2018 to Strategic Directors to establish sub-schemes of delegation for the discharge of executive and non-executive functions of the Council following the amendment to Appendix 9 of the Constitution – Responsibility for Functions

Brief Description of Decision:

This decision is to make a direct award of contract, without competition, to support employment pathways for people with a Learning Disability

Reasons for the Decision:

Adult Care has established the My Front Door team. The My Front Door team are carrying out reviews and assessments for people with a Learning Disability who have traditionally accessed Council run building based provision for day support.

As part of the new offer, the Council wishes to promote pathways to work and skills training to enable people with a Learning Disability to maximise their potential for independence.

The value of the award is £40,000 to support the selected provider to deliver 25 sessions per week. These sessions will be used to develop individualised plans for people as part of skills development and developing a pathway to employment. Potentially, these sessions will be funded over a four month period.

There is a requirement under EU legislation that contracts over a certain value let by the local authority must be subject to an open tendering exercise. This is reflected in the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules at CPR 53.

However, because of the value of the contract and due to the circumstances of the required service there is no requirement to tender because of the effect of CPR 49.1.5 which states:

it is a social care contract, being the provision of individual care and support services to a client or group of clients that is not obtainable under any framework agreement or contract that the council has with a provider of such services and enquiries have established that there is only one external provider of the required individual care and support services at the time the need arises;

Details of Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

Although there are potentially other providers who may be able deliver alternative day opportunity services for people with a Learning Disability, the offer of work and skills pathways is limited to the requested service. Due to the requirement for the Council to support people with a Learning Disability into employment and the timescales for the work of the My Front Door team to find alternative day opportunity solutions, a procurement exercise would take 3-6 months to facilitate. During this period, there would be an immediate gap in the alternative offer. .

Where the decision is made under specific delegation from a decision making body, the names of any member of the relevant body who has declared a conflict of interest in relation to the decision and name of the body granting the specific delegation and the date when it did so:

N/A

Background Papers: