Published date: 17 July 2019

Closed opportunity - This means that the contract is currently closed. The buying department may be considering suppliers that have already applied, or no suitable offers were made.


Closing: 13 August 2019

Contract summary

Industry

  • Legal services - 79100000

  • Business and management consultancy and related services - 79400000

Location of contract

West Midlands, London

Value of contract

£20,000 to £30,000

Procurement reference

MT216700

Published date

17 July 2019

Closing date

13 August 2019

Contract start date

29 August 2019

Contract end date

16 December 2019

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Open procedure (below threshold)

Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.

This procedure can be used for procurements below the relevant contract value threshold.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

No

Description

The overall objectives of the project are, in the event a retailer makes a disorderly exit, to:
- Gather options for protecting customers' monies;
- Assess whether there is, or could be, a mechanism to provide recourse for retailers to recover the (reasonable) costs of honouring credit balances when taking over the supply of affected customers;
- Recommend the most effective option(s) for protecting customers' monies and mitigating the exposure of the incoming retailer, including an assessment of any legal or regulatory changes that may need to be made to the existing framework, as appropriate.
In order to achieve the overall objectives, the Customer requires that the following key tasks ("the Services") will be carried out by the Supplier:
Key Task 1 - By reviewing what other regulators (including, but not limited to, the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, Ofgem, the FCA and the CAA) do to protect customers' money or provide recourse for retailers (or similar) to recover the (reasonable) costs of covering credit balances, and by reference to your experience of similar organisations, set out what mechanisms exist that are used to protect customer money. In doing so, highlight pros and cons across the different schemes.
Key Task 2 - Set out the costs and risks associated with incoming retailers taking on credit balances of an outgoing retailer (Ofwat will provide background information).
Key Task 3 - Evaluation and Options proposal - From your own knowledge, advise on any options to:
a) Secure customers money, including but not limited to, instances where they have made pre-payments, deposits, etc.
b) Introduce mechanisms for incoming retailers to be able to claim money back where they have taken on/ honoured credit balances from an outgoing retailer.
We require Task 3 to involve stakeholder engagement, which may involve stakeholder workshops, so as to incorporate views from trading parties and customer groups.
Key Deliverables
The Supplier will provide the following as key Deliverables of the project:
Deliverable 1 - Draft report will incorporate all key tasks 1, 2, and 3.
The draft report will be subject to acceptance and sign off by the Associate Director, Market Outcomes and Enforcement (MOE), before moving on to the next stage.
Deliverable 2 - Final report - to include any feedback received from Ofwat on Deliverable 1.
The final report will be subject to acceptance and sign off by the Director, Business Retail, MOE.
Timescales
The Supplier will provide the key deliverables in accordance with the following timescales:
Key Deliverables Date
Deliverable 1 14 October 2019
Deliverable 2 25 November 2019
It is expected that the contract will commence on 29 August 2019 and the signing off of the Final Report by the Director, Business Retail, MOE (16 December 2019) shall be the contract Expiry Date.
More details can be found in the Invitation to Tender (ITT).

More information

Links

About the buyer

Contact name

Lena Cluxton

Address

Centre City Tower
7 Hill Street
Birmingham
B5 4UA
England

Telephone

+44 1216447534

Email

lena.cluxton@ofwat.gov.uk

Website

http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/