Decision details

The Council sources a range of different accommodation options as part of preparing young people aged 16 years and over who are looked after for living independently. Accommodation is also provided for other eligible 16+ young people, such as unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC). These accommodation services are currently accessed via a dynamic purchasing system (DPS), a mechanism that enables the Council to match a young person’s needs with a suitable accommodation provider.

The current DPS for 16+ services will expire on 31st March 2022. A framework agreement (under the Public Contract Regulations 2015 “light touch” regime – this will allow for a more flexible framework structure to be adopted) is proposed to replace the DPS as the mechanism for sourcing these services, to go live on 1st April 2022 and run for 5 years, with an option to extend for a further 2 years if required. Based on the full-year cost of existing placements sourced through the current DPS, the estimated annual value of these services is £5.9m, giving an estimated maximum total contract spend of £41.3m.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People has approved:-

(1)The commencement of a procurement process for a 16+ Older Looked After Children and Care Leavers Framework Agreement, to run for a period of 5 years, commencing April 2022, with an option to extend for a further 2 years.

(2)The delegation of authority to the Executive Director of Children, Young People and Learning to implement the framework agreement (including the award of contracts to successful bidders) and to extend the framework agreement if required.

(3)The delegation of authority to the Executive Director of Children, Young People and Learning to award contracts to successful providers on completion of mini competitions undertaken to obtain services from the framework agreement.

None