Probation: Procurement

(asked on 10th September 2021) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the letter from the Director General of Probation and Wales, HMPPS, to Clinks, in response to the publication of the independent review of the Dynamic Framework of the National Probation Service, published by Clinks on 23 August 2021, what his timetable is for the (a) publication of and (b) consultation on the new set of competition documents.


Answered by
Lucy Frazer Portrait
Lucy Frazer
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
This question was answered on 15th September 2021

The government welcomes the findings in Richard Oldfield’s report, in which he recognises the progress made in establishing the Dynamic Framework to commission rehabilitative services as part of the new unified probation model. As outlined in the letter from the Director General of Probation and Wales to Clinks, the report’s primary conclusion that we can do more to encourage participation of small and medium-sized organisations, is accepted and we are taking forward work to implement most of the recommendations made.

The Framework will exist for at least 7 years, and the procurement of Day 1 contracts represents just a small part of the total volume of services that will be commissioned through it. It is therefore to be expected that only a relatively small proportion of the organisations that had qualified on to the Dynamic Framework then went on to bid in the call off competitions for Day 1 contracts. Active encouragement has been given to all organisations interested in delivering services in the new probation operating model to qualify for the Dynamic Framework, regardless of whether they had expressed an interest in directly bidding for Day 1 contracts.

It is not unusual in running a large number of concurrent competitions, some of which were run below probation region level at a more local PCC level, that there will be fewer organisations with the capacity and capability to bid in some areas than others. It is a significant achievement that all 110 contracts could be successfully awarded.

It is not possible to produce a meaningful estimate of the cost an organisation may incur in participating on the Framework, as that depends on a range of factors, including how many competitions an organisation chooses to bid in, what the organisation’s starting point is in terms of understanding of staff transfer and information security requirements, what their existing staffing and estates footprint looks like. A standard selection questionnaire is used as the method by which organisations seek to qualify for the Dynamic Framework, and efforts have been made to make the call off competition process proportionate to the value of the contracts being awarded, whilst ensuring all processes remain in line with procurement regulations and established good commercial practice in government.

Evaluating (or vetting) the Day 1 competitions formed just one part of the workstream of activity to establish the Dynamic Framework, qualify bidders, run competitions, oversee mobilisation of successful bidders (which over an average 3 month mobilisation window included assessing readiness of staff, systems and premises) and implement new contract management processes and structures. It is not possible to separate out the cost of evaluating; the monthly cost of the overall workstream was c. £220k in FY2020/21, this cost covered all of the above activity.

Looking ahead, consultation has begun with market participants on the changes that are being proposed to the various procurement and competition documents. As Richard Oldfield recognises in his report, it was always the intention to learn lessons from this first round of competitions, and that work began even before transition to the new operating model had been completed. All aspects of the documentation are being considered, from the selection questionnaire to call off competition documents and the Framework Agreement itself. Changes will be implemented over the coming weeks and months in a staged manner and consultation will continue as this progresses. We will continue that approach to reviewing and learning lessons throughout the life of the Dynamic Framework.

Work is underway to prepare guidance and criteria for when grants should be the presumptive first choice of funding mechanism. Richard Oldfield’s recommendation is that this should be for all awards under £1milion; arguably other factors, such as type of service, also need to be taken into consideration. Market participants will be consulted as this guidance and criteria is developed further. Whilst work on delivery has commenced, detailed timescales have yet to be determined. It is therefore too early to say what proportion of future awards may take the form of grants or contracts.

Finally, the monitoring of the proportion of contract values that are subcontracted to VCSEs and SMEs will be reviewed through contract management governance and the analysis of annual financial returns made by lead providers.

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