Fourteen (14) local authorities: Southampton City Council, Portsmouth City Council, Oxfordshire County Council, Bournemouth Borough Council, Dorset Council, Isle of Wight Council, Poole Borough Council, Surrey County Council, Reading Borough Council, Slough Children's Services Trust, Wokingham Borough Council, Bracknell Forest Council, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and West Berkshire Council, (thereby referred to as The Councils) are working together to improve placement choice and quality for the children and young people they look after.

In order to improve placement choice and quality, the Councils wish to work in partnership with a number of providers who can demonstrate that they have the ability to deliver high quality independent foster care services, and work in partnership to ensure a range of placements are available based within or near the Councils boundaries.

Estimated total value is 200 000 000 GBP — 400 000 000 GBP. This notice is for the annual re-advertising.

Please see main short description. The total contract value per Lot is based on the anticipated spend in year 1 only.

Please see main short description. The total contract value per Lot is based on the anticipated spend in year 1 only.

Please see main short description. The total contract value per Lot is based on the anticipated spend in year 1 only.

Please see main short description. The total contract value per Lot is based on the anticipated spend in year 1 only. It is to be noted that Lot 4 is a new service and contract usage and spend is yet to be determined and will be based on market response and capacity to deliver the new requirements. The South Central Consortium anticipate an increase in foster care placement numbers throughout the term of the contract and therefore the overall contract value is based on an overall spend of 200 000 000 GBP to 400 000 000 GBP to take in to account an increase in demand.

Currently there is no option on the Framework Agreement to bid for Block Contracts in Lot 4. The Councils reserve the right, subject to agreement with existing providers to vary the terms and conditions of this Framework Agreement by amending Lot 4 to allow Councils to run mini-competitions to place block contracts. Any new providers joining the framework will be subject to the same terms and conditions. These would only be open to Providers selected for Lot 4. For the avoidance of doubt this means both existing Bidders and new Bidders who have been selected for Lot 4 either as part of the initial tender or as part of the annual reopening of the Framework Agreement. If you wish to bid for any potential future Block Contracts for Lot 4, you must be accepted first onto the Framework Agreement. This would be either from the initial Framework Agreement bidding process or via the annual reopening.