Decision details

Following a competitive tender process in August 2019 for the provision of A Bed Every Night (ABEN) rough sleeper accommodation project in Oldham, the successful tenderer was DePaul for a 9-month period from 1st October 2019 to 30th June 2020.
GMCA, the body that commission and fund ABEN, have announced Phase 3 will run from 1st July 2020 – 31st March 2021. Oldham Council have taken a decision to run a tender exercise for service delivery of ABEN Phase 3.
Due to the value of the prospective tender the Council must go through a full procurement exercise. The short timescales between funding being confirmed by GMCA and ABEN Phase 3 commencing mean that the tender cannot be formally signed off until 7th August 2020. The ABEN Phase 2 contract therefore needs to be extended to ensure there is no gap in service delivery.

RESOLVED - That:
Agree to waiver the Contract Procurement Rules and extend the current ABEN Phase 2 contract by two months to 31st August 2020: This option would ensure there is no disruption to service users and provides a realistic timescale for implementing the ABEN Phase 3 contract.

Option 1 - (Recommended) Agree to waiver the Contract Procurement Rules and extend the current ABEN Phase 2 contract by two months to 31st August 2020: This option would ensure there is no disruption to service users and provides a realistic timescale for implementing the ABEN Phase 3 contract.
Option 2 - (Not recommended) Not approve the exemption which would result in either a gap in service or not being able to follow the Contract Procedure Rules. This option may cause unnecessary disruption to the service, the cohort and objectives of the funding. There is also risk to the Council in not following procedural rules in terms of procurement. It is therefore not recommended that this option is pursued.
Option 3 - (Not recommended) Deliver in-house: It is unlikely that the Council could recruit and train new staff in time to deliver ABEN Phase 3, and there is no capacity to do so within existing resources. It is therefore not recommended that this option is pursued.

Option 2 - (Not recommended) Not approve the exemption which would result in either a gap in service or not being able to follow the Contract Procedure Rules. This option may cause unnecessary disruption to the service, the cohort and objectives of the funding. There is also risk to the Council in not following procedural rules in terms of procurement. It is therefore not recommended that this option is pursued.
Option 3 - (Not recommended) Deliver in-house: It is unlikely that the Council could recruit and train new staff in time to deliver ABEN Phase 3, and there is no capacity to do so within existing resources. It is therefore not recommended that this option is pursued.

Cabinet Member has been briefed on ABEN Phase 3 and is supportive of the decision to move forward.