Family Licensed Work 2012

This page contains information about the tender process that we are running in February 2012 for Family Licensed Work Services to commence on 1 April 2012.

2 May 2012 – Tender outcomes published

Outcomes of the Family Licensed Work Services tender process have been published today and can be found in the documents section on right hand side of this page.

10 April 2012 - 2012 Standard Civil Contract (Family and Housing) Quality Standard Amendments

Confirmation of approach to obtaining a relevant quality standard

As part of the recent tender processes we asked Applicants to commit to achieve accreditation under either the SQM or Lexcel quality standard within 6 months of the Contract start date. The standard an organisation committed to achieving formed a condition of their 2012 Standard Civil Contract (Family and Housing).

Further to the award of new family contracts, the Contract Management team have received several queries from providers requesting that we accept an amendment to their chosen quality standard.

As the SQM and Lexcel are considered equivalent quality standards under the 2012 Standard Civil Contract (Family and Housing), where a provider requests to switch their quality standard, we will confirm we will allow this provided that they still achieve accreditation under the new standard in full within 6 months of the Contract start date.

If you wish to switch your organisation’s quality standard please:

Contact your Contract Manager in writing requesting an amendment to the required quality standard. Please ensure that you confirm the new standard you seek to achieve.
Be aware that the time limits for achieving accreditation remain unchanged (i.e. 6 months from the Contract start date). Should you fail to achieve the amended quality standard by this date the LSC have the right to terminate your contract.

Following the receipt of any written request, your Contract Manager will write to you and confirm that for the purposes of the condition at Clause 4.1 in your Contract For Signature we will now treat the new quality standard as the one you elected to achieve accreditation under in your response to the PQQ.

If you have any queries about this approach, please contact your Contract Manager in the first instance.

6 March 2012 – Notification of outcomes starts today
Today we are starting to notify Applicants of the outcomes of their Tenders.

All notification letters will be sent to Applicants through the message boards in the PQQ and ITT for Family Licensed Work Services 2012 in the LSC's secure eTendering system. Applicants should check the message boards in the relevant PQQ and ITT regularly to ensure that they do not miss any important messages.

Where Applicants have been successful, their notification letters will also include information about verification of their Tender and next steps. It is important that Applicants follow any instructions given in these letters. Notification letters will also make it clear if Applicants have completed verification so need not do anything further at this stage. If Applicants have any questions regarding the verification process they must send them through the message board in the eTendering system through which they received their notification letter.

Where Applicants have been unsuccessful, their notification letters will include the reasons for this. As set out in the Terms and Conditions at Part Two, Section A of the Information for Applicants, there is no right of appeal against any decision taken by the LSC in respect of this procurement process.

In a few instances assessment of Tenders is still ongoing and letters will be sent out over the next few days. If Applicants have not received notification of the outcome of their Tender by Monday 12 March, they should contact us through the message boards.

20 February 2012 - Deadline for submitting tenders has passed
The deadline for submitting tenders was 12 noon on 20 February 2012. Late responses cannot be accepted. We will now be assessing tenders and will notify Applicants of results as per Part One, section 9 and section 11 of the Information for Applicants.

16 February 2012 – Final FAQ Published
As set out at 8.5 of Part One of the Information for Applicants (IFA), we have today published our final Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document. The FAQ document can be found in the Documents panel on the right hand side of this page. This FAQ also includes the questions and answers published in the earlier version of the FAQ, although some question numbering has been revised.

The deadline for questions about the IFA, the PQQ or the ITT was 12 noon on 10 February 2012. Questions of wider interest have been collated and answered in the final "Family Services Frequently Asked Questions" document.

We are unable to answer questions relating to the IFA, the PQQ or the ITT after the deadline of 12 noon on 10 February 2012.

If you have technical queries on how to use the eTendering system, you should contact technical support on 020 8763 3241 or by email at cla.enquiries@firstassist.co.uk.

The deadline for submitting tenders is 12 noon on 20 February 2012.

6 February 2012 – Family Licensed Work tender process opens
The tender process for new family contracts has opened today (6th February 2012) and will close at 12 noon on Monday 20 February 2012. The tender process was announced in a joint statement published on 23rd January.

The documents in the panel on the right hand side of this page provide details of the tender process requirements and information on how to apply. Applicants must read the “Information for Applicants” document carefully before completing and submitting a Tender.

All Applicants passing the Pre Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) and meeting the Selection Criteria (essential requirements for the delivery of the service) will be awarded contracts.

The tender process is for contracts for Family Licensed Work (which will also give successful applicants authorisation to undertake Licensed Work in Housing). Those that were successful in the recent family tender exercise need not apply, only those who were previously unsuccessful or who seek a licence-only Family contract.

Applications must be made online through the eTendering system. A helpline (0208 763 3241) has been set up which you can call if you are having any technical problems with using the eTendering system.

An initial Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document is available in the documents panel on the right hand side of this page. If you have any questions about the content of the PQQ, Invitation to Tender or Information for Applicants, these should be raised through the message boards in the eTendering system and must be asked by 12 noon on 10 February 2012.

Questions of wider interest will be collated and answered through a new version of the FAQ document which will be published on 16 February 2012.

Contracts for Family Licensed Work Services will commence on 1 April 2012.

Last updated: 02 May 2012