Cardiff Council (‘the Council’) has a corporate commitment to support vulnerable people and seeks to empower them to live as safely and independently as possible within the community, free from violence and abuse.

The Council is looking to establish a service that provides a holistic model of support within the City and County of Cardiff. Service elements to be delivered include provision of a One Stop Shop, Accommodation-Based Support and Community-Based Support.

The Council is looking to enter into a contract with a provider for delivery of the whole model of provision for female victims (including support services for any accompanied children and young people). Given the nature of the services concerned, the Council recognises that some bidders may wish to come together and bid collaboratively. That said, the Council welcomes bids from all types of tendering organisations, including sole tenderers, consortiums and lead/sub contractor arrangements.

Cardiff Council (“the Council”) has a corporate commitment to support vulnerable people and seeks to empower them to live as safely and independently as possible within the community, free from violence and abuse.

The Council is looking to establish a service that provides a holistic model of support within the City and County of Cardiff. Service elements to be delivered include provision of a One Stop Shop, Accommodation-Based Support and Community-Based Support.

The Council is looking to enter into a contract with a provider for delivery of the whole model of provision for female victims (including support services for any accompanied children and young people). Given the nature of the services concerned, the Council recognises that some bidders may wish to come together and bid collaboratively. That said, the Council welcomes bids from all types of tendering organisations, including sole tenderers, consortiums and lead/sub contractor arrangements.

The Council seeks to award 1 contract in relation to the provision of Services for women who have experienced violence, domestic abuse and/or sexual violence in Cardiff. The services under these contracts are funded by different funding streams, each with unique grant terms and conditions. The funding streams include the following;

— Welsh Government funding: Supporting People Programme Grant, Flying Start, and Families First.

— Welsh Government funding: VAWDASV Grant (formerly Domestic Abuse Services Grant).

— South Wales Police / Police and Crime Commissioner funding: Crime Reduction Grant.

The provision of this service is aligned with the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015, which states that local authorities have a duty to improve the prevention, protection and support for people affected, by violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence.

The ultimate aim of the service is to reduce the number of women and children living with abuse and the long term costs associated with abuse to victims, services and society.

Following the Act, the Welsh Government has set out an objective within its national strategy to provide victims “With access to holistic, appropriately resourced, high quality, needs led, strength based, gender responsive services across Wales".

The intention is to issue one contract with an annual value of approximately 1 600 000 GBP, and for this level of funding the successful provider will be required to provide the following 3 components of the service:

— One Stop Shop.

— Accommodation Based Support.

— Community-Based Support delivered by Independent Personal Advocates (IPAs).

The successful provider will have the expertise to deal with clients facing a wide range of issues including, but not limited to, domestic abuse, rape, sexual violence/ abuse, stalking, forced marriage, ‘honour-based violence (HBV), Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and sexual harassment.

The estimated overall value of the contract is circa 11 200 000 GBP. The Council anticipates that over the term of the contract variations may be required to the services concerned, including by way of additional services (anticipated to be no more than 10 % of the overall value of the contract).

Bidders should note that the contracts are reliant upon external funding streams and accordingly the contract will contain provisions to deal with any potential reduction or increase in the level of grant funding being made available and/or any potential cessation of the external grant funding.