Published date: 25 March 2024
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.
Contract summary
Industry
Guidance services - 85312310
Welfare services not delivered through residential institutions - 85312400
Other community, social and personal services - 98000000
Location of contract
South East
Value of contract
£1,092,000 to £2,730,000
Procurement reference
OXFS001-DN716803-03599172
Published date
25 March 2024
Closing date
3 May 2024
Closing time
11am
Contract start date
1 November 2024
Contract end date
31 October 2027
Contract type
Service contract
Procedure type
Open procedure (above threshold)
Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.
This procedure can be used for procurements above the relevant contract value threshold.
Contract is suitable for SMEs?
Yes
Contract is suitable for VCSEs?
Yes
Description
The subject matter of this process relates to the delivery of services which are listed in Schedule 3 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015.
Oxfordshire County Council is looking to commission an advice service to give specialist advice to Oxfordshire residents. The aim of the service is to support people to live their lives as independently, successfully and safely as possible within the community, to enhance well-being and improve people's choices.
The service will achieve this by providing free, independent and impartial advice to assist people with benefits, debt, budgeting and other financial and welfare issues, thereby addressing underlying issues and health inequalities and maximising incomes, helping people to make the best use of the money available to them.
The service will provide a preventative offer to people in the community, providing pro-active training and advice for people to enable them to develop good budgeting skills and money management before they reach a crisis point.
The service will provide 'subject matter expert' consultancy to support colleagues in local government, health and voluntary and community organisations who are working with people who need specialist money advice. The service will also provide training support to other information and advice services across the county to develop and maintain key knowledge and skills around benefits and entitlements.
The service will take a whole person approach to addressing people's needs in order to tackle health inequalities and improve health and wellbeing. The Service Provider will have an in-depth knowledge of the issues faced by Oxfordshire residents and will be well connected to the many sources of support in the county to allow for seamless cross referrals and signposting e.g. social prescribing and/or connection to referrals from the NHS.
The service will be available and accessible in all parts of the county through the remote access. The Service Provider will have a particular focus on ensuring that the Service is promoted to and accessible to people living in the Lower Super Output Areas (LSOA's) in the county which are classified within the 20% most deprived nationally according to the IMD 2019 and most likely to experience inequalities, and to people with protected characteristics.
The contract period is anticipated to commence on 1 November 2024. The contract term is anticipated to be 3 years, with an option for the Council to extend by up to a further 2 years.
Full details relating to this procurement, including the service specification are available through the Council's e-tendering portal at https://sebp.due-north.com/ (ref DN667483).
More information
Previous notice about this procurement
Oxfordshire Advice Services Sector Engagement Event
- Early engagement
- Published 15 September 2023
About the buyer
Contact name
Alex White
Address
3rd Floor
County Hall
Oxford
OX1 1ND
United Kingdom
Telephone
+44 7554339176
Website
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Closing: 3 May 2024, 11am
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