Local Commissioning and Procurement News

Real accountability: guidance on the NHS duty to report on consultation

New legislation will come into force in April 2010. The NHS duty to report on consultations will require all PCTs and SHAs that commission services to explain how they have acted upon feedback from patients and the public. ‘Real Accountability’ aims to help the NHS get ready for the legislation. The guidance explains the legal obligations and provides practical help and advice in terms of preparing and publishing reports.

• Download the guidance

Details of the next Procurement Champions event: 2 December, London

Details of the next Procurement Champions event have been accounced:

2 December 2009
London (exact venue tbc)
Price: £20

Speakers will include:

• Matthew Pike - Chair of the ACEVO Personalisation Commission, Chair of Social Capital and a Fellow at the Young Foundation.
• Jo Clapham - Voluntary Norfolk.
• Helen Allen - Small Community Services Project Coordinator, NAAPS.
• Mark Finch - Choice Support and Transport, Oldham.

More information including how to book is available on the ACEVO website.

New publication - Pathways through the maze: a guide to procurement law

NAVCA and NCVO have jointly published Pathways Through the Maze, the first comprehensive guide to procurement regulations written for voluntary organisations and community groups.

The Guide answers the most common questions voluntary and community organisations have about procurement processes and explains the legal requirements applying to public bodies’ procurement exercises

Pathways Through the Maze is essential reading for:

• Anyone in an infrastructure organisation who works with commissioning, procurement and public services.
• All voluntary organisations, community groups and social enterprises interest or involved in delivering public services.
• Public Sector commissioners wanting to improve their engagement with third sector organisations.

All NAVCA members will be sent a free hard copy and you can download an electronic copy below.

• Download Pathways through the maze: A Guide to Procurement Law (PDF, 1.24MB)

In praise of intelligent commissioning

Today’s Guardian Public has an article by Katy Wing, NAVCA’s Director of Local Services Partnerships.

- In praise of intelligent commissioning

Do we need ISO 9001?

Rachel Rhodes, LCPU’s Commissioning and Procurement Adviser has written this article for the latest edition of Circulation, examining how quality systems and quality accreditation are scored in the selection or pre-qualification stage of a competitive tender process.

• Download the article (PDF 99KB)

Personalisation briefing from SCIE

The Social Care Institute of Excellence (SCIE) has added ‘Personalisation briefing: Implications for voluntary sector providers’ to its series of ‘at a glance’ briefings on Personalisation.

• Read more on the SCIE website

DWP: Advance notice of forthcoming Pre Qualification Briefing Events

Merged programme based on progress2work and progress2workLinkUP and the 2010 Problem Drug Users’ Employment and Support Pilots

Advance notice is given of forthcoming Pre Qualification Briefing Events.

DWP will be holding events for potential bidders at which information on the requirements of the contracts and the procurement process will be provided.

The dates and locations are as follows:

• Tuesday 20 October - London
• Wednesday 21 October - Cardiff
• Thursday 22 October - Glasgow

The events are open to suppliers wishing to be considered as prime contractors and also to smaller organisations who may wish to work with the prime contractor on a sub-contract basis.

• More information and book your place on the DWP website.

Please note that the last date for bookings is 14 October 2009.

Society Guardian: Outsourcing and the risk factor

Tony Levene writes in today’s Society Guardian on “Outsourcing and the risk factor” including a Guardian roundtable debate which involved Katy Wing, NAVCA’s Director of Social Care & Health.

“There are both positive and negative aspects to outsourcing, the trick is to way up the balance before agreeing a contract. One thing is for certain, risk management should not be a box-ticking exercise”

• Read more on the Guardian Website

Social Return on Investment supplementary guides published

As part of a package of support from Government to help maximise the social value the third sector creates, the Office of the Third Sector (OTS) has published three tailored guides, including one on commissioning, to Social Return on Investment (SROI), which supplement ‘A guide to Social Return on Investment’, published in May 2009.

For more information and to download copies of the guides, visit SROI UK.

The Scottish Government’s Third Sector Division is running a complementary project, which is responsibile for the development of a SROI portal and of new training materials for practitioners. For more information, visit the Scottish SROI project.

Invitation to LIOs: Tender Support Project

We are seeking Local Infrastructure Organisations (LIOs) who are interested in delivering our Tender Support Project to third sector organisations in their area.

What is the Tender Support Project?

The Project will run from October 2009 to the end of March 2011, providing high quality tender bidding support at the time a TSO is submitting a tender. This could include help with any or all of the following:

• assessing tender suitability;
• checking pre-qualification questionnaires;
• polishing draft tender submissions;
• preparing for interviews/presentation with evaluation panels.

For more information read our Invitation to LIOs. The closing date for applications is midday on 6 October 2009.

• Invitation to LIOs (PDF, 72KB)
• Application form (Word, 101KB)

The Tender Support Project is being delivered as part of the National Programme for Third Sector Commissioning. For enquiries please contact Pauline Kimantas at pauline.kimantas@navca.org.uk or phone 0114 289 3982.