Decision Maker: Cabinet Procurement and Insourcing Committee

Outcome: For Determination

Is Key Decision?: Yes

Is Callable In?: Yes

Date of Decision: April 7, 2025

Purpose:

Content: RESOLVED:   1.  To approve the award of contract for consultancy services for Phase One to accelerate our work on prevention and demand management across our demand-led service areas to Provider B as set out in Exempt Appendix 1. This contract will identify high level business cases identifying significant financial savings. 2.  To delegate authority to the Group Director, Chief Executive’s Directorate to award the  Phase Two services to Provider B , by use of a compliant  direct award process.   Reason(s) For Decision   This report sets out the proposed award of contract  to Provider B to support the Council to accelerate our Corporate Transformation and Savings Identification.    The Council faces the current Corporate Transformation Programme targets delivery of  £21m over the next three financial years.  This commission is a key part of the council’s strategy to deliver this.   For phase one of this work, Provider B will work with us to accelerate our work on prevention and demand management across our demand-led service areas (Adult social care, Children’s social care, Homelessness and Education, specifically the special education needs and disabilities cohort)  and to develop high level business cases that can impact on outcomes for residents and  identifying significant financial savings.   Phase two will focus on implementation of the business cases and will be awarded separately through direct award.  Both phases are subject to contract award approval through this Cabinet Procurement & Insourcing Committee.   The scope of the work specified in this contract award will explicitly exclude areas of our demand-led services that have previously been subject to reviews, especially where these have been supported by external providers. The intention is to build upon work that has already been undertaken, particularly where prevention and early intervention could potentially reduce or delay the need for residents to access our services.   The contract will utilise the specialist knowledge, capacity and benchmarking data of Provider B to undertake data analysis and a diagnostic exercise to identify business cases which deliver significant financial savings.    Funding for this contract will rely on the flexible use of capital receipts strategy,  approved by Full Council in February 2025.    Alternative Options Considered and Rejected   We have considered whether we could undertake this work internally; however we do not have all the skills and in addition capacity constraints and the financial imperative to generate proposals to address the council’s budget challenge in the short to medium term means that enhancing internal capacity through recruitment is not an option. Doing nothing is also not an option, due to the very significant financial challenges facing the council.  As part of the contract award, Provider B is expected to work with the council to ensure knowledge transfer to the internal corporate transformation team.  This will mean that they are able to deliver some of the implementation activity internally.