Essex County Council (“the Council”) conducted an open, single stage procurement to commission a new Direct Payments Support Service (DPSS) to enable people who are ordinarily resident within the administrative boundaries of Essex (excluding the unitary authority areas of Thurrock and Southend-on-Sea) to manage their direct payment.

This procurement incorporated the following lots:

Lot 1: Independent Information and Advice Service and Personal Assistant (PA) Support Hub

Lot 2: Payment/Payroll/Account Management services

Please be advised that the Council acted akin to a central purchasing body in relation to this procurement opportunity in conjunction with Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) who will access but not formally be a party to the ensuing contract. In addition, please note that whilst the ensuing DPSS contracts will primarily be used to support people with either social care and/or mental health needs to manage their personal budgets via a Direct Payment; it will also be open for the following classification of users within the administrative area of Essex: NHS Healthcare (including local Integrated Care Systems).

In addition, please be advised that this service is being commissioned under an initial three (3) year term with the option to extend for a further two (2) years at the Council’s sole discretion; thereby resulting in a maximum possible contract duration of five (5) years.

Please note that the total value of the procurement as stated in section II 1.7 below reflects the cumulative effect of the pricing submissions for both lots across the maximum contractual duration of five (5) years, net of the Council's Accelerated Payment Rebate Scheme (APRS) which the successful bidder opted into as part of their tender submission.

This lot is designed to secure suitable provision of an advice and information service relating to direct payments, which will also include Employer Advice and Guidance Services and a Personal Assistant support hub delivered to individuals who may be considering taking a Direct Payment or already have one in place, and who are ordinarily resident in Essex.

This lot was designed to secure suitable provision of Payment Services and Account Management to support people with either social care and/or mental health needs (across both adults and children’s services) to manage their personal budgets via a Direct Payment (DP).

Please note that the successful bidder for this lot will be required to deliver all the following specified requirements (noting that not every DP recipient will require support from all of the constituent elements of this provision):

• Payroll - to support DP recipients who employ their own Personal Assistant(s)

• Bought Ledger - to support individuals to pay for social care services using their Direct Payment; and

• Account Management - to ensure that Direct Payment money for each DP recipient is received in an identifiable, named account from which all relevant payments can be made.