Official UK procurement notice
Independent Advice to the OAWY Adoption Panel
Authority: Leeds City Council - PACS (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionProvision of a quality assurance and advisory role to the 8 monthly One Adoption West Yorkshire adoption panels, ensuring that processes are compliant with Adoption Regulations and Minimum Standards. Advice will be provided to the five West Yorkshire Agency Decision Makers and the One Adoption West Yorkshire Agency Decision Maker as required.
CPV: Business and management consultancy and related services · Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security · Legal advisory and representation services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedWhat it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
- Price
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record · publisher note attached- Procedure method
- Negotiated without publication of a contract notice
- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 18 Mar 2022, 13:27 GMT
- Last source update
- 18 Mar 2022, 13:27 GMT
- Authority reference
50403- FTS notice number
2022/S 000-007421- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-032397Find a Tender
- Why no open competition
The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator due to absence of competition for technical reasons
- Published justification
The council intends to directly award a contract to Highton Consultancy Ltd on the grounds set out at Regulation 32 (2) (b) (ii) - Negotiated Procedure without prior publication - of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The below sets out the technical reasons why competition is absent and the reasons why no reasonable alternative or substitute exists, as required by Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) ;
Independent Advice to Adoption Panel is a regulatory requirement and from the establishment of OAWY in April 2017 was a role fulfilled by Team Managers within the Agency. In response to Covid 19, OAWY utilised monies from the Adoption Support Fund Covid 19 scheme to appoint a consultant to undertake this work from 24/07/2020. This was due to increased pressures on Team Managers as a result of increasing case numbers. There was a requirement to increase the number of Adoption Panels from seven to eight per month in response to increased work and also the need to move panels from face to face to online in response to the pandemic. A further 12 month contract was awarded in April 2021 to maintain the service due to the ongoing capacity challenges as the pandemic continued.
The specific Advisor role has proved beneficial to OAWY. A focused role allows for increased focus on quality assurance. As a result, fewer cases are deferred due to outstanding information. There has been an improvement in the quality of documentation presented to the adoption panel. With four panel chairs across the eight panels and a wide variation in membership, a consistent Advisor ensures consistency in process and recommendations resulting in an improved staff and customer experience. There has been positive feedback from OAWY and Local Authority staff, Panel Chairs and Local Authority Agency Decision Makers regarding having a consistent Adoption Panel Advisor. This post has proved vital in raising standards and in ensuring timely and good quality decision making for children.
Awarding a further contract to the current consultant is required, not just for consistency but also because of the importance of relationships to this work. The consultant has worked to understand the OAWY procedures and developed strong relationships with the Panel members and contributing social workers over a period of two years. Relationship building is crucial to this support. The time it would take for a new consultant to build the positive and strong relationships as well as the in-depth knowledge of procedures would be significant. This would be detrimental to the continuing development of good decision making by Panels, particularly at this time as the service continues to recover from the impact of the pandemic. Due to all the above factors, the Council considers that there are no reasonable alternatives or substitutes to the support provided by Highton Consultancy that can be utilised by the Council.
- Review procedure
The authority will incorporate a minimum 10 calendar day standstill period at the point information on the award of the contract is communicated. This period allows potential tenderers to seek further information from the contracting authority before the contract is entered into.
Such additional information should be requested from the addressee found in I.1. If an appeal regarding the award of a contract has not been successfully resolved the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (SI 2015 No 102) provide for aggrieved parties who have been harmed or are at risk of harm by a breach of the rules to take action in the High Court (England, Wales and Northern Ireland). Any such action must be brought promptly (within 30 days beginning with the date when the economic operator first knew or ought to have known that grounds for such action had arisen).
Where a contract has not been entered into the court may order the setting aside of the award decision or order the authority to amend any document and may award damages.
Following the correct implementation of a 10 day standstill period and publication of appropriate notices the court may only award damages once the contract has been entered into.
Publisher note: Contract Award under Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 - Use of the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a Contract Notice - to Highton Consultancy for provision of independent advice and quality assurance to the OAWY Adoption Panel.
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highton Consultancy LtdSME | £192,000 † | — | Awarded |
Contracts
Independent Advice to the OAWY Adoption Panel · Highton Consultancy LtdSME
- Signed
- 16 Mar 2022
- Value
- £192,000
- Status
- active
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Dispute resolution & review bodies
- The High Court of JusticeReview body
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- Highton Consultancy LtdAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.