Contract award: UK-London: guidance services

UK-London: guidance services

2010/S 146-225326

CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE

Services

SECTION I: CONTRACTING AUTHORITY

• I.1)
  NAME, ADDRESSES AND CONTACT POINT(S)

  Attn: Tel. E-mail: Big Lottery Fund
  1 Plough Place
  Sharon Nash
  EC4A 1DELondon
  UNITED KINGDOM
  +44 2078424237
  sharon.nash@biglotteryfund.org.uk

• I.2)
  TYPE OF THE CONTRACTING AUTHORITY AND MAIN ACTIVITY OR ACTIVITIES

  Body governed by public law

  Other Grant Awarding Body

  The contracting authority is purchasing on behalf of other contracting authorities No

SECTION II: OBJECT OF THE CONTRACT

• II.1)
  DESCRIPTION
• II.1.1)
  Title attributed to the contract

  2327 Support Contract for the Delivery of Debt Advice Services in Northern Ireland.

• II.1.2)
  Type of contract and location of works, place of delivery or of performance

  Services

  Service category: No 25

  Main place of performance Northern Ireland.

  NUTS code UKN

II.1.3)
The notice involves

• II.1.4)
  Short description of the contract or purchase(s)

  Big Lottery Fund (BIG) is a UK wide non departmental public body sponsored by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport at Westminster. Across the United Kingdom, BIG and its predecessor organisations have distributed over £2.8 billion to thousands of projects since the National Lottery started in 1994. In Northern Ireland, 480 000 000 GBP has been committed to more than 10 500 projects. BIG makes grants in the areas of health, education, environment and charitable causes.

  In response to the current economic situation, BIG wishes appoint a service provider to provide a support contract to increase the availability of free, independent customer-focussed money advice to new users at non-traditional venues in communities across Northern Ireland (NI). The proposed contract will support individuals and families struggling financially due to loss of income and/or changed circumstances as a result of the economic downturn.

  The proposed contract forms a key element of the Northern Ireland package of interventions which responds to the current economic situation, in particular as it is evidenced by increasing levels of demand on the advice sector of the VCS in Northern Ireland. The proposal is considered to be time critical and is a high priority of Northern Ireland Committee (NIC).

  There are many new clients in need of money advice, whose advice requirements may be complex. The service should focus on those directly affected and whose circumstances have changed as a consequence of the credit crunch and the recession; e.g. workers on compulsory reduced hours or compulsory extended unpaid leave, those made redundant, those who extended borrowing when credit was easy but are now struggling to meet demands, or self-employed individuals in industries particularly affected by the recession.

  The service provider should take into account the existing mapping work already carried out by various agencies and have detailed knowledge of unemployment and underemployment hotspots, and should also respond to sectoral gaps in order to ensure that BIG’s proposal adds value and complements government strategies rather than displaces them.

  The service provider should have experience of money advice in Northern Ireland as they will be best equipped to provide reliable evidence of where need is greatest, and deliver a quality service in the shortest possible timeframe, that is appropriate to local needs and capacity. There are many non-traditional locations such as community venues that could play a key role in expanding delivery of services across Northern Ireland. The existence of sectoral gaps demonstrates the need for voluntary organisations, not currently delivering debt advice services, to become involved in delivering services in new ways and places, to communities across Northern Ireland.

  To effectively provide geographic coverage across NI, and deliver the highest quality of service to beneficiaries in all locations, our preferred option is for a partnership approach to develop a short-term intervention using new ways of working to best address the needs of a new client base in non-traditional venues in the community.

  The contract values will range between 700 000 GBP & 800 000 GBP inclusive of VAT.

  The proposed contract term is 30 months with the possibility of a 1 year extension.

  If you wish to express interest in this contract please follow the detailed instructions in III.2 Conditions for Participation. The closing date for expressions of interest is on 5.10.2009 (12:00).

• II.1.5)
  Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)

  85312310

• II.1.6)
  Contract covered by the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

  Yes

• II.2)
  TOTAL FINAL VALUE OF CONTRACT(S)
• II.2.1)
  Total final value of contract(s)

  Value 799 577,55 GBP

SECTION IV: PROCEDURE

• IV.1)
  TYPE OF PROCEDURE
• IV.1.1)
  Type of procedure

  Restricted

• IV.2)
  AWARD CRITERIA
• IV.2.1)
  Award criteria

  The most economically advantageous tender in terms of

  1. Price

  2. Quality

  3. Delivery performance

  4. Risk

  5. Overall cost effectiveness

• IV.2.2)
  An electronic auction has been used

  No

• IV.3)
  ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
• IV.3.1)
  File reference number attributed by the contracting authority

  2327

IV.3.2)
Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract

SECTION V: AWARD OF CONTRACT

CONTRACT NO: 2327

TITLE Advice Services Alliance - Debt Advice Services in Northern Ireland.

• V.1)
  Date of contract award decision:

  9.6.2010

• V.2)
  NUMBER OF OFFERS RECEIVED:

  3

• V.3)
  NAME AND ADDRESS OF ECONOMIC OPERATOR IN FAVOUR OF WHOM A CONTRACT AWARD DECISION HAS BEEN TAKEN

  E-mail: Tel. The Northern Ireland Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux Limited
  46 Donegall Pass
  BT7 1BSBelfast
  UNITED KINGDOM
  mcveighb@citizensadvice.co.uk
  +44 2890252528

• V.4)
  INFORMATION ON VALUE OF CONTRACT

  Total final value of the contract

  Value 799 577,55 GBP

  If annual or monthly value number of months 30

V.5)
THE CONTRACT IS LIKELY TO BE SUB-CONTRACTED

SECTION VI: COMPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

• VI.1)
  CONTRACT RELATED TO A PROJECT AND/OR PROGRAMME FINANCED BY COMMUNITY FUNDS

  No

• VI.2)
  ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

  The Contracting Authority intends to use an eTendering system in this procurement exercise and reserves the right to use a reverse auction.

VI.3)
PROCEDURES FOR APPEAL

VI.3.1)
Body responsible for appeal procedures

VI.3.2)
Lodging of appeals

VI.3.3)
Service from which information about the lodging of appeals may be obtained

• VI.4)
  DATE OF DISPATCH OF THIS NOTICE:

  28.7.2010