Decision details

Having complied with paragraph 15 of the Council’s Access to Information Procedure Rules.

(i)  approve the award of the three contracts which make up the substance misuse tender to the providers and on the key terms and conditions set out in Confidential Appendix 1.

The service model consists of three distinct services, which have been procured in accordance with the council’s Contract Procedure Rules and the European Procurement Regulations. This has been a two-stage procedure, which requires a pre-qualification of suitable candidates, who are then short-listed and invited to submit tenders, based on the specifications and terms and conditions provided by the council.

The three elements are:

a) Early Support and Planning service (Young People aged 11 – 24 years)

b) Assessment, Review, Monitoring and Recovery co-ordination service

c) Delivery of Drug and Alcohol Treatment Recovery service

(ii)  To delegate authority to the People Director, following consultation with the Head of Finance and IT and the Head of Legal & Democratic Services to do anything necessary to give effect to the recommendation above including, but not limited to progressing to contractual and financial close and entering into any associated or ancillary documents necessary to give effect to the contracts.

1. This report is submitted for consideration as a General Exception under paragraph 15 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules in Part 4 of the City Council’s Constitution, notice having been given to the Chair of the relevant Scrutiny Panel and the Public. 
2. The substance misuse tender commenced in 2012 as part of a joint commissioning exercise between Southampton PCT and Southampton City Council under the s75 arrangements and has continued as a joint exercise between the City Council and Southampton Clinical Commissioning Group. The tender was advertised in 2013 and the ITT stage completed in March 2014. It is now urgent that a decision is made to award the tender and this matter cannot therefore be deferred for inclusion on the next forward plan as current services have been given notice of termination and although willing to extend existing services if required, they have flagged up considerable risks including:

·  The difficulties of maintaining committed staff teams,

·  Two providers have leases of buildings which have now expired or are due to expire

·  Reduced staff numbers will lead to a reduction in treatment options

·  All of the above will lead to reduced performance of treatment services in Southampton in relation to other Local Authority areas nationally

·  It will also represent a risk to service users as the effectiveness of treatment may be compromised.

1. Other options were considered prior to the development of the current model, for example, continuing to contract with the current provider. However, these were rejected as they did not comply with the procurement rules. The advantages and disadvantages of each option was fully considered by the s75 Partnership and the current service model decided upon. The full option appraisal is contained within the Strategic Review document which will be available in Members’ rooms.
2. Joint commissioning with other Local Authorities:The possibility of tendering jointly for substance misuse services with other local authority and CCG areas (Hampshire, Portsmouth and IOW) was considered at an early stage of the procurement process. Unfortunately, as the four local authorities were at different stages of the procurement cycle at that time, it was not felt to be a viable option.

None.