Functional Assessment Services (FAS) 2023 - Lot 4

Location

London

Description

Published 16 October 2023This contract will be for the use of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (Lots 1to 4) and the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland (Lot 5). The service provision will be primarily contracted through this procurement to the Authority but may allow other Government Departments and their Agencies, Non-Departmental PublicBodies, and devolved administrations (including but not limited to HM Revenue andCustoms, Ministry of Defence, HM Courts and Tribunals Service, National Health andSocial Care) to access the services.To support the determination of an individual’s entitlement to benefit, the Authorityrequires the delivery of a range of compatible and sympathetic Functional HealthAssessments (FAS). The results of these assessments form one part of the evidenceutilised by the Authority Decision Maker in making the ultimate decision on benefitentitlement on behalf of the Secretary of State.FAS Suppliers will be expected to deliver functional health assessments in relation to thefollowing benefits:• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)- https://www.gov.uk/pip• Employment Support Allowance (ESA)https://www.gov.uk/employment-support-allowance• Universal Credit (UC)https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-if-you-have-a-disability-orhealth-condition-quick-guide/universal-credit-if-you-have-a-disability-or-health-condition• The delivery of assessments/advice associated with 15 other specialist benefits, for bothDWP and other Government Departments, including Veterans UK, HM Courts andTribunals Service and HM Revenue and CustomsDWP ran a procurement using the Light Touch Regime and a modified process withcommercial dialogue in accordance with Regulations 74 to 76 of the Public ContractsRegulations 2015. For Lot 5, DWP conducted aspects of the procurement process onbehalf of the Department for Communities (DfC) in Northern Ireland. The procedure is setout clearly in the published Invitation to Tender document.The service will be divided into five (5) geographical lots:Lot 1 – Northern England and ScotlandLot 2 – Midlands and WalesLot 3 – South West EnglandLot 4 – London, South East & East AngliaLot 5 – Northern Ireland

Ammendments to Previous Notice

Award Detail

CPV Codes

• 85000000 - Health and social work services

Indicators

• Contract modified due to additional needs.

Legal Justification

An increased demand for assessments since the Contract was awarded, required these additional services to meet claimants needs and to preserve these vital services for benefit of claimants. Interchangeability issues with existing processes and systems with a new supplier would have an unacceptable impact on the delivery of key services and would result in a high level of cost associated with engaging, mobilising and operating the additional services. These factors would negatively impact the delivery of key services which provide critical statutory benefits to vulnerable claimants.Appointing a new supplier to address the additional services would also lead to a significant duplication of costs and significant inconvenience, for the reasons mentioned in the paragraph above in mobilising a new supplier and also due to overlap in supplier personnel and duplication of processes and systems which would be required if two suppliers were delivering different parts of the service.

Other Information

Not applicable – no additional information relevant to this contract modification