1. Procurement Reform Bill
Annie Gunner Logan
Director, CCPS
12 December 2013

2. Re-tendering of care and support
Causes instability, uncertainty and anxiety
Has driven down hourly rates to unsustainable levels, with a particular impact on the workforce
Takes up management and staff time that could be better used improving and developing services
Clashes with principles and practice of SDS
Why does it do this?
Fundamentally, because paper-based procurement exercises are structurally incapable of determining either service quality or a provider’s capacity to deliver it, in anything other than very crude terms, so cost almost inevitably becomes the dominant factor; and because it gives decision-making power, choice and control to the contracting authority, not the individual or anyone else.

3. CCPS Procurement Survey 2013
2% of providers engaged in developing service specifications
12% confident that service users and families are notified appropriately
84% chose not to submit, typically because of price cap/ total contract value
34% asked to drop price after contract award
Thanks to all who completed the survey. Big response – organisations participating provide around 25% of all care and support.
Wanted to see which way the wind was blowing on procurement with specific reference to the 2010 guidance – ie. is anyone implementing it? – and to SDS.
Very long report with detailed findings, but here are some of the headlines.

4. CCPS Provider Survey 2013 Some movement towards outcomes in contracts
Big shift to frameworks rather than service contract tenders
Trend towards generic services
Minimal adjustments for SDS
Still largely about cost
“There’s a lot that doesn’t go out to tender”
And here are the trends/patterns.
So – not surprisingly, still major problems with procurement, and an opportunity to something about them, in the shape of the Procurement Reform Bill.
However – almost everyone agreed that not everything goes out to tender – so if there are ways of doing business without tendering, why tender?

5. Procurement Reform Bill
Applies EU Treaty principles (equal treatment of suppliers, non-discrimination) to all contracts over £50,000
Sustainable procurement duty
Procurement strategies and annual reports
Ministerial guidance on selection of tenderers, including “recruitment and terms of engagement of the workforce”
EU Treaty principles – this is a real problem, because this is the reason behind the pressure on authorities to re-tender.
Sustainable procurement duty – this is good, because is says authorities have to consider how procurement is going to improve wellbeing, promote innovation, etc, and then act on that. In other words, an impact assessment. CCPS wants it to include an assessment of the impact on the individual, as well as on the area.
Workforce stuff really important – this is where we can start to look at zero-hours contracts, living wage, etc.
So: our “asks” – take social care contracts out of scope of the Section 8 (the treaty principles) and thus relieve the pressure on authorities to re-tender; leave them in scope for everything else, and beef it up a bit to reflect care and support issues. Specifically give a bit more oomph to the 2010 guidance.

6. Cabinet Secretary response
Infrastructure & Capital Investment Committee
11/12/13
Scottish Government will introduce an amendment at Stage 2 to take social care contracts out of scope of the requirement for advertisement and competition (but leave them in scope for everything else).
This is what Nicola Sturgeon told the committee yesterday. This is now ‘our objective’ although how we’re going to do it is not entirely clear, but we’ll work on that!
So: 2014 is the Ryder Cup, the Commonwealth Games, the Homecoming and the Referendum – might it also see the beginning of the end of re-tendering for care?

7. Merry Christmas!
“We will introduce n amendment at Stage