Building A Structured Approach To Contract Management Created By: James Sinclair and Tracey Watts

Our Vision 2 To develop an innovative, flexible and competitive market capable of meeting the local needs of SCF and providing excellent value. To ensure the Authority's commercial and social interests are protected through clear contracts and that suppliers' performance is monitored to ensure excellence and continuous improvement for our customers We will achieve this whilst promoting our values of: Focussing on our customer (both ECC and the end user) and proactively driving improvements to their service Enabling and empowering these customers Maintaining honesty, integrity and approachability

In practice this means we will need to: 1.Ensure we have recognisable contracts in place for all of our spend, starting this process with our high spend and high risk areas 2.Ensure those contracts have adequate and appropriate performance indicators in place which measure how our suppliers support our children to grow and develop in their time with the supplier and that we actually measure and react to these 3.Have a clear and well defined structure for dealing with contract queries and performance issues, with all relevant parties consulted at the right time and with the right information so concerns are never lost 4.Understand our suppliers, to ensure we are aware of any commercial risks in their organisation which could stop or impact on them providing care for our children and respond to these risks appropriately before they get out of hand. 5.Understand how much care actually costs, discussing this with our suppliers and working with them and our internal care experts to take cost out where possible and appropriate. 6.Communicate - Discuss our needs/ new ways of doing things/ anything of use with our suppliers, peers and others.

Step 1 – Understanding our suppliers and contracts

RISK VALUE Residential Homes Residential Education Fostering CWD Day Respite CWD Support Risk Risk of harm to child if service is not performed or quality is poor Value High Value is defined as £1m per annum or more Children’s Centres Strategic Significant KeyMaintain Definitions High Level Family Support EY Quality and Sufficiency Advocacy CWD Shortbreaks/ activities/ clubs FIF Research Wellbeing Survey Supported Housing CWD Resi - Respite CWD Shared Care MST In consultation with service area and use of the contract register we identified our key areas of spend and the contracts we had in place in these areas Tiering our areas of spend:

SegmentActivitiesOutputReported to Mobilisation  Identify roles and responsibilities for the provider and authority.  Identify key stakeholders  Hold Risk review meetings with Key stakeholders  Finalise Key performance indicators, supplier reporting structure and contract review format. Operations  Suppliers to provide quarterly report to contract manager.  Contract manager to complete KPIs survey via Ariba and produce Analytical report.  Quarterly contract management reviews to be conducted  Update risk register and supplier action plans  Review and log contract benefits for the quarter.  Internal service meetings to be held to share issue logs, performance and updates.  Contract manager to produce quarterly contract performance report using standard template.  Contract Manager to review provider tiering every 6 months.  Contract Manager to complete Annual compliance auditing proportionate to the value of spend with suppliers.. Contract termination Contract manager to conduct Contract closing meeting with provider following standard template. Contract manager to complete contract termination checklist. Final contract review report to be produced including lessons learnt. Archive contract management documentation. Mobilisation Operations manuals Stake holder map Risk Register Finalised Key Performance Indicators Contingency plans Standard contract agendas Template contract performance report Operations Supplier Reports KPI comparison reports Contract review minutes Issue Logs Benefits tracker Supplier action plans Provider tiering Compliance audit checks Summary report Contract termination Contract termination checklist Final contract review report Mobilisation  Report on mobilisation to DCB on exception basis if issues or expected delays Operations Quarterly report on performance against contract incorporating highlights from output areas presented to DCB Contract Termination Final contract review report shared with DCB with details on how lessons learnt are incorporated in to new procurement if necessary Strategic Note – those tasks in red will only be required for top tier suppliers or alternatively will only be required at longer intervals Strategic Area:

SegmentActivitiesOutputReported to Mobilisation  Identify roles and responsibilities for the provider and authority.  Identify key stakeholders  Finalise Key performance indicators, supplier reporting structure and contract review format. Operations  Suppliers to provide quarterly report to contract manager.  Contract manager to complete KPIs survey via Ariba and produce Analytical report.  6 monthly contract management reviews to be conducted  Update risk register and supplier action plans  Review and log contract benefits every 6 months.  Internal service meetings to be held to share issue logs, performance and updates.  Contract manager to produce 6 monthly contract performance report using standard template.  Contract Manager to review provider tiering every year.  Contract Manager to complete Annual compliance auditing.  Supply Chain Manager to understand cost base of service and work to identify areas where cost could be taken out, price reduced or quality improved Contract termination Contract manager to conduct Contract closing meeting with provider following standard template. Contract manager to complete contract termination checklist. Final contract review report to be produced including lessons learnt. Archive contract management documentation. Mobilisation Operations manuals Stake holder map Risk Register Finalised Key Performance Indicators Standard contract agendas Template contract performance report Operations Supplier Reports KPI comparison reports Contract review minutes Issue Logs Benefits tracker Supplier action plans Provider tiering Compliance audit checks Summary report Supply chain management report detailing projects and benefits identified and timescales for completion Contract termination Contract termination checklist High Level final contract review report Mobilisation  Report on mobilisation to DCB on exception basis if issues or expected delays Operations Yearly report on performance against contract incorporating highlights from output areas presented to DCB  Yearly report on supply chain management projects Significant Note - those tasks in red will only be required for top tier suppliers or alternatively will only be required at longer intervals Significant Area:

SegmentActivitiesOutputReported to Mobilisation  Identify roles and responsibilities for the provider and authority.  Identify key stakeholders  Hold Risk review meetings with Key stakeholders Operations  Update risk register and supplier action plans on a quarterly basis  Internal service meetings to be held to share issue logs,.  Contract Manager to complete Annual compliance auditing. Contract termination Contract manager to complete contract termination checklist. Final contract review report to be produced including lessons learnt. Archive contract management documentation. Mobilisation Operations manuals Stake holder map Risk Register Operations Issue Logs Supplier action plans where necessary Compliance audit checks Contract termination Contract termination checklist High Level final contract review report Mobilisation  Report on mobilisation to DCB on exception basis if issues or expected delays Operations Risk update from bottleneck to be incorporated as part of yearly update on all key contract performance for SCF Key Key Area:

Maintain Areas SegmentActivitiesOutputReported to Mobilisation  Identify roles and responsibilities for the provider and authority.  Finalise Key performance indicators, supplier reporting structure and contract review format. Operations  Review and log contract benefits on annual basis Contract termination Lessons Learnt from contract to be fed from service to the procurement team Mobilisation Finalised Key Performance Indicators Template contract performance report  No reporting requirements for this level of contract unless specifically requested Maintain Maintain Area:

Step 2 - Measuring our suppliers

11 Outcomes and performance indicators The benefits of performance management: Identifies the aims of the contract Ensure value for money Identify poorly performing providers Ensure remedial actions are identified and completed Identify providers achieving good performance Manage risks Achieve the aims of the contract Provides valuable information to future contracts

Maintain Areas Outcomes and performance indicators Definition of an outcome: An outcome is the intended result and the reason for commissioning services. E.g. Economic prosperity available to all. Definition of an Indicator: A measure that helps to quantify the achievement of an outcome but is not solely attributable to the provider. E.g. The % of working age people in unemployment across the county.. Performance measure: The specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound targets in place to monitor the performance of a contract. E.g. The % of 16+ young people placed with a provider attending further education, training or in employment.

Exercise 1 : 1.From Hand out Identify the Outcomes, indictors and performance measures from the list provided. 2.In relation to your own contracts discuss and identify the key outcomes, indictors and performance measures. Each group to feedback 1 example.

Maintain Areas Measuring these indicators:

Step 3 - A structured approach to how we work

Example of how we 16 ART Team Receive New provider set up template – states urgent/ not UPLOADING NEW SUPPLIERS Send ICC (include breakdown of costs) Is it urgent? Complete in 24 hours YES Complete in 3 days NO Review documentation Is price acceptable Award letter Supplier Negotiate Send Variant award letter to supplier YES Receive acceptance from supplier Upload to ARIBA and notify Placement Team Notify key relevant commissioners Organise home review visit Visit home, assess and complete form B - confirm whether acceptable Notify Contract Support Officer HOME REVIEW PROCESS Social Worker Receive Termination Form Assess reasons for termination against contract terms Termination Customer TERMINATING SUPPLIERS SUPPLIER INPUT PROCESS OUTPUTCUSTOMER MONITORING OF SUPPLIERS Cragg Admin Request to identify what suppliers we have Send placement list to Cragg Admin Receive allocation of visits from Cragg Contract Manager An example of how we structure our service:

Step 4 - Managing Risk

18 Thinking about your own contracts consider the areas where things could go wrong and identify a list of potential risks. Consider areas such as; -The mobilisation period of the contract -The providers operation -The internal risks -The contractual risks -Safeguarding risks 10 minutes Exercise 2 – Managing risk