Children and Adult Advocacy Services for Oxfordshire (CPU2052)

Tenders are invited from suitably qualified organisations to provide advocacy services for adults, and advocacy and independent visiting (IV) for children. The council has a statutory responsibility for the delivery of these services. Advocacy is a demand-driven service and is most needed by vulnerable people or those living in vulnerable situations. The population numbers that fall within this group are increasing, and therefore the demand for advocacy is likely to increase.

Lot 1 - Children Advocacy Services: Both Independent Visitors (IVs) and Advocates are provided through an internally managed service supported by volunteers. The service currently provides support to vulnerable young people and those on child protection plans; aged 5 -18 years old, or up until the age of 25 if they have special educational needs and require continued support into adulthood. Young people supported through these services will include:

• Looked After Children who wish to be represented by an independent person • Children and young people at risk of sexual exploitation • Children and young people at risk of homelessness • Children and young people with mental health issues who are not accessing alternative one-to-one support • Children and young people making a complaint • Children and young people in residential or edge of care accommodation.

Since 2014, referrals to the service have tripled. There is an on-going need to ensure support and clear guidelines are made available.

Lot 2 - Adults Advocacy Services: Provision of these services are delivered by paid advocates and a small number of volunteers through an external contract.

The statutory advocacy services required are: • Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy Service (IMCA). • Paid Relevant Person's Representative Service (RPR). • Independent Mental Health Advocacy Service (IMHA) (including Independent Mental Health Advocacy Prison Service). • NHS Independent Complaints Advocacy Service. • Independent Care Act Advocacy Service (ICAA). TUPE will apply.

The contract can be delivered by single organisations or consortium/partnerships, and the successful provider will need to maintain strong working relationships and work with other organisations to deliver an effective, timely service.

Estimated start/end date: 1st October 2019 to 30th September 2022.

Contract term: 3 years plus the option to extend up to a further 2 years.

Further details are included within the procurement documents accessed via the South East Business Portal https://sebp.due-north.com/

Additional information: The subject matter of this procurement process relates to Chapter 3 Section 7 of the Public Contract Regulations. As such the full regime set out in the regulations will not apply to the award of the service contract. Consequently the procurement process adopted by the Commissioners has been developed in accordance with Regulation 76 of the regulations and in particular in accordance with the fundamental public procurement principles of transparency and equal treatment. For the avoidance of doubt this means that Commissioners have not adopted the open procedure (as such terms is defined by the regulations) for the undertaking of this procurement process. The fact that in the OJEU Contract Notice Section IV.1) the field / box relating to type of procedure may default to the term "Open" does not mean that this procedure is being followed by the Commissioners.