Decision

Salford City Council – Record of Decision

I Councillor Youd, Lead Member for Finance and Support Services and chairman of the Procurement Board, in exercise of the powers contained within the Council Constitution do hereby:

• approval for an Exception to Contractual Standing Orders to award a contract for Pure Insight for the delivery of a mentoring, psychological wellbeing and counselling service for Salford care leavers, as detailed in the table below:

Detail required

Answers

Contract Reference

Title/Description of Contracted Service/Supply/Project

Connecting Care Leavers

Name of Contractor

Pure Insight

Type of organisation

(to be supplied by Corporate Procurement)

Registered Charity

Status of Organisation

(to be supplied by Corporate Procurement)

Non-SME

Value of Contract Extension (£)

£80,000 for the 1st year

£60,000 for 2nd and 3rd years

Existing Contract Term

36 months

Extension Period

31/07/2026

Contact Officer (Name & number)

Jennifer Walsh

Lead Service Group

People Services

Funding Source

Revenue Budget

Ethical Contractor (EC): Mayor’s Employment Charter

EC: Committed to sign the Charter

EC: Accredited Living Wage Employer

The reasons are:

Delivers Best Value to the Council

Pure Insight brings significant match funds to Salford. This comes via their volunteer hours, which last year amounted to over £34,296.00 as well as 3 posts funded by Big Lottery and 1 post funded by Henry Smith which provide 2x Psychological Wellbeing Workers, 1x Mentoring Coordinator and 1x Trauma Counsellor for Salford. By funding an extra £20,000 for the first year we get added funded from other grants of £90,225. 

The goods / services / works are only obtainable from one provider and there is no other provider available to allow genuine competition

Pure Insights are a unique provider who have built up good relationships with Salford care leavers over the past three years.  Pure Insight deliver a service that has grown with the needs of Salford Care Leavers to provide a unique offer. Parts of the service like the drop-in café facility, are bonus to the commissioned service and if we were to go to tender, we would have to commission different providers to facilitate the different parts of the service that Pure Insight delivers. This would not only mean more expenditure to the Council but also a loss in match funding and in savings.

This is a health service as it is funded by CAMHS Transformation fund from GM Integrated fund and the services are predominantly mental health support services.

Options considered and rejected were:

To go out for full tender. This was rejected at this time due to time restraints and the time needed for the market to further develop for sufficient competition.

Assessment of risk:

If this service is not commissioned then there is a risk of not meeting the requirements of the legislation and the identified needs of service users in relation to mental health and wellbeing, as detailed above.

The renewal of funding for the service would reduce the risk of adverse outcomes for vulnerable care leavers which would lead to pressures on Salford City Council’s Next Steps leaving care service and on mental health and other services in Salford. There is a high risk that statutory obligations to address care leavers’ mental health needs would not be met.

The source of funding is: £20,000 for the first year to be paid by the Council from Next Steps budget slippage from vacancies in the team. £180,000 for the three years agreed by SFFG are to be paid from the recurrent funding for the provision in the children and young people’s cost centre within the Integrated Fund.

Legal advice obtained: Supplied by the Shared Legal Service

Ordinarily when commissioning contracts for the procurement of goods, services or the execution of works the Council as a ‘contracting authority’ must comply with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR) as well as the provisions of its own Contractual Standing Orders (CSO’s), Financial Regulations and the duties of Best and Social value. In addition, the PCR require that contracting authorities treat candidates equally and in a non-discriminatory way and act in a transparent manner, failing which the award of a contract may be subject to legal challenge.

In exceptional circumstances the Council may dispense with strict compliance of its CSO’s, and the report sets out the reasons for the request for the exception, in accordance with paragraph 3.1 of CSO’s. Whilst exceptions may be authorised by an approval from the Procurement Board, there is still a risk of challenge from aggrieved providers if the usual tender process has not been followed on the basis that it ought to have been advertised and put out to competition.

The risk of challenge increases with the value and duration of a proposed contract being awarded. The report sets out the reasons for the need to enter this contract, the benefits and added value the provider brings to the Council and confirms that Pure Insight are in a unique position to deliver the services. The direct award will also reduce the risk of adverse outcomes for vulnerable care leavers and mitigate the risk that statutory obligations to address care leavers’ mental health needs would not be met.

The Council is also under a best value duty to carry out its functions economically, efficiently and effectively with the objective to achieve value for money in all public procurement. The Council has considered the circumstances in this matter and concluded that the recommendation to award the contract to Pure Insight to be of least risk and of most benefit to the Council.

Financial advice obtained: Supplied by: Ian Johnson, Senior Accountant, 17/07/2023.

£60,000 for all three years will be funded by GM ICB. In year one a further £20,000 will be funded from the Childrens’ Services revenue budget, through savings from part year vacancies within the Next Step service.

Procurement advice obtained: Supplied by: Christine Flisk ext.6245

The request to an exception to CSOs is in line with councils constitution, procurement board has the authority to approve an award of contract above £150,000, as outlined within the report.  Although there is always a risk of challenge from an aggrieved supplier when a contract is a direct award, this is thought to be low, as it was established that this is a unique service.

As part of the Council’s Innovate program and budget challenges over the next three years, the service group should consider efficiencies, revenue savings opportunities and enhanced contract management KPI’s as part of this procurement activity. The procurement team will work with the service group to review the contract and determine the procurement strategy going forward.

HR advice obtained: N/A

Climate change implications obtained: Supplied by: Michael Hemingway

Pure Insight encourage walking and cycling for the Care Leavers Accessing their service as well as healthy cooking at their café. Their café is local and can be accessed by walking, cycling and public transport.

Contact details:

Contact Officer:        Catarina Lima

Telephone number:  0161 603 4255

Signed:     Cllr Youd            Dated:   23 August 2023.

               Lead Member

FOR DEMOCRATIC SERVICES USE ONLY

*           This decision was published on 25 August 2023

*           This decision will come in force at 4.00 p.m. on 4 September 2023 unless it is called-in in accordance with the Decision Making Process Rules.