Tendering For Care

Since June 2007 TfC has kept its membership updated on a weekly basis regarding the latest news and developments in the world of procurement. We have now produced a "General" version of Staying Ahead which can be downloaded from the link below. In addition to some recent comments which might be of interest to readers we have included some important items which were first published during the first three months of 2008.

There is some confusion over whether or not a purchaser MUST tender for particular services contracts. The position is as follows:

The European Directive, 2004/18/EC, and subsequently the UK Public Contracts Regulations (2006) set out a clear set of requirements for purchasers. However, both sets of legislation allow a "light touch" approach to the procurement of certain services. These are known as PartB services. The legislation is not totally irrelevant to this group of services. For example, all tenders must be "adequately advertised". 

An article written by TfC for the Finance Hub in August 2007.

Now updated and published on the TfC website on 6th May 2008.

To read the original article go to:

http://www.financehub.org.uk/uploads/documents/fh_eg_ss_procurement_and_tendering_163.pdf

The following is an extract from Third Sector Online. The entire article demonstrates the general lack of understanding of the options which are available to organisations if they believe that there is clear and demonstrable evidence of a lack of compliance with the procurement regulations. TfC has written an open letter to ACEVO which sets out the options which exist. These have become well established over the past twelve years, and are used on a regular basis by many organisations.

Report of a review by Dame Denise Platt on how the status of social care might be raised, as commissioned by the Secretary of State for Health, in her speech to the national Social Services Conference in October 2006.

The terms of reference for the review were:

The Department of Health has announced that it will be beginning piloting primary care commissioning of telecare in July, with pilot sites chosen by next month. Gary Belfield, the DH’s head of primary care announced that three PCTs will be chosen next month to deliver hardware, worth an estimated £5,000, to patients in their homes.