Posted on Tuesday 21 September 2010
CCPS welcomes the publication of Scottish Government guidance on the procurement of care and support. CCPS has endorsed this guidance since its inception, as it provides a much clearer outline of the steps that need to be taken in any decision to put an existing service out to tender, and sets out key expectations on authorities in terms of user and carer consultation and engagement during tender exercises. It is hoped that the guidance will enable local authorities to approach the issue of social care procurement more flexibly, and the guidance will be a useful resource for providers wishing to engage with councils about how they run tenders and other procurement activity; if the guidance is followed it should go a long way towards avoiding the very poor practice which has happened in some recent cases.
The guidance is the culmination of a process begun by CCPS three years ago, when CCPS' first position statement on competitive tendering in care and support was produced, and a meeting with the Association of Directors of Social Work (ADSW) was sought. The subsequent publication of a CCPS report on the impact of tendering gave further impetus to this initiative, and in early 2009 the Scottish Government embarked on a process which has now resulted in this much-anticipated guidance document. A Development Group is to be convened shortly, which will monitor use of the guidance, and CCPS will be a key part of this.