Newcastle City Council (''the Lead Authority'') acting as the lead authority on behalf of the North East Procurement Organisation (NEPO) and its Member Authorities, has awarded a Flexible Procurement Agreement (Contract) for:
Lot 1 - Children's Advocacy,
Lot 2 - NOT USED
Lot 3 - Investigating Officers (Children and Adult Stage Two Complaints)
Lot 4 - Independent Persons (Children and Adult Stage Two Complaints)
Lot 5 - Independent Chairs for Stage Three Statutory Children's Social Care Complaints
Lot 6 - Independent Panellists for Stage Three Statutory Children's Social Care Complaints
Lot 7 - Independent Persons for Secure Accommodation Reviews
This Notice is for Opening One of this Flexible Procurement Agreement (Contract) and the Council is inviting tenders for Lots 3 - 7 only.
The North East regional governance arrangements have determined that this is a non-mandatory collaborative exercise, and as a result, Local Authorities can 'opt-in' to the six different elements of the solution, with some Local Authorities choosing to continue to purchase some of these services through other local arrangements.
The Participating Local Authorities 'opting in' to the initial phase of this solution will be:
1. Darlington - all elements
2. Durham - all elements except Children's Advocacy
3. Gateshead - all elements
4. Hartlepool - all elements
5. Middlesbrough - all elements
6. Newcastle (Lead Authority) - all elements
7. North Tyneside - all elements
8. Northumberland - all elements except Children's Advocacy
9. Redcar & Cleveland - all elements
10. South Tyneside - all elements
11. Stockton - all elements, and
12. Sunderland - all elements
Local Authorities who have 'opted out' for any Lot at this initial period of the solution may 'opt-in' to use the solution during its term.
The agreement will be available for use by all NEPO Members. A list of member organisations is available in the About section of the NEPO website at: www.nepo.org.
This agreement will also be made available to all current and future NEPO Associate Members. Current Associate Members are listed in the Associate Member section of the NEPO website at: www.nepo.org/associate-membership/list.
NEPO intends to make the resulting agreement available for use by all Contracting Authorities throughout all administrative regions of the UK (as defined by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015) including but not limited to Government Departments and their Agencies, Non-Departmental Public Bodies, Central Government, NHS Bodies, Local Authorities, Emergency Services, Coastguard Emergency Services, Educational Establishments, Registered Social Landlords and Registered Charities who have a need to purchase the above services.
A complete list of permissible users is shown on the NEPO website below:
https://www.nepo.org/associate-membership/permissible-users
Organisations wishing to access the NEPO agreement will be required to register as a NEPO Associate Member in the first instance.
Further information can be found at: www.nepo.org
Lot 3 - Investigating Officers (Children and Adult Stage Two Complaints)
Lot 4 - Independent Persons (Children and Adult Stage Two Complaints)
Lot 5 - Independent Chairs for Stage Three Statutory Children's Social Care Complaints
Lot 6 - Independent Panellists for Stage Three Statutory Children's Social Care Complaints
Lot 7 - Independent Persons for Secure Accommodation Reviews