DELEGATED POWERS REPORT NO. 147 Control sheet The following MUST be completed at each stage of the process

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1 DELEGATED POWERS REPORT NO. 147 Control sheet The following MUST be completed at each stage of the process All reports 1. Democratic Services receive draft report Name of DSO Nick Musgrove 22/11/06 2. Democratic Services cleared draft report as Name of DSO Nick Musgrove being constitutionally appropriate 22/11/06 3. Finance clearance obtained from (report author Name of Fin. officer Helen Gardiner to complete) 28/11/06 4. Staff and other resources issues clearance Name of Res. officer John Kitching obtained from (report author to complete) 28/11/06 5. Legal clearance obtained from (report author to Name of Legal officer Philomena Jemide complete) 28/11/06 6. CPO clearance obtained from (report author to Name of CPO officer Andrew Nathan complete) 24/11/06 7. The above process has been checked and Name Irene Findlay verified by Chief Officer or his/her Deputy 28/11/06 (report author to complete) 8. Report, containing scanned signature of Name of DSO Vishal Seegoolam Cabinet Member or Chief Officer, & date, 1/12/2006 received by Democratic Services for publishing 9. Report published by Dem Services to website Name of DSO Vishal Seegoolam 1/12/ Officer reports (Exec. Function) and all Council Name of DSO N/A function reports: Head of Service informed report can be implemented. Cabinet Member reports only also complete the following steps All other reports for further steps go to 19 below 11. Expiry of call-in period 8/12/ Report circulated for call-in purposes to COSC Name of DSO Vishal Seegoolam members & copied to Cabinet & Head of Service 1/12/ Report called in? Y/N 14. Reports not called in: Head of Service informed Name of DSO report can be implemented (Now go to step 19) Reports called in, complete following steps: 15. Information passed to Head of Service and Name of DSO DSO for COSC 16. Report listed for COSC meeting on 17. Head of Service informed report referred back (Ref), or can be implemented (Imp) Ref/Imp 18. Reports exempted from call-in: PDSO informed for report to Council. reported to Council 19. All reports: referred to OSC Manager; 20. Referred to OSC Name of DSO Council meeting Name of DSO Meeting Page 1 of 9

2 ACTION TAKEN BY CABINET MEMBER(S) UNDER DELEGATED POWERS (EXECUTIVE FUNCTION) Subject Cabinet Member(s) of decision The Award of a Home Meals Contract jointly with the London Borough of Enfield Cabinet Member for Community Services 28 November 2006 decision comes into effect 8 December 2006 Summary Officer Contributors Status (public or exempt) Wards affected Enclosures Reason for exemption from call-in This report outlines the tendering process conducted jointly by the London Boroughs of Enfield and Barnet for the award of a new Home Meals Contract which in the case of Barnet Council will result in the externalisation of the service. It states the decision for the award of that contract. It also refers to the TUPE/redundancy implications for staff which will result from the award. Glynnis Joffe - (Older Adults) Public All None Not applicable Assistant Director Health Partnerships Contact for further information: Gl ynnis Joffe - Tel: Serial No. 147 Page 2 of 9

3 1. RELEVANT PREVIOUS DECISIONS 1.1 Cabinet Resources Committee on 26 September 2005 instructed that officers explore with Enfield Council the option of pursuing a joint contract for the Meals at Home Service and that the decision to tender out the meals service jointly with Enfield Council be delegated to the Head of Adult Social Services. 1.2 Cabinet Resources Committee 23 September 2004 that approval be given to invite tenders for the Meals at Home Service. 2. CORPORATE PRIORITIES AND POLICY CONSIDERATIONS 2.1 Supporting the Vulnerable in our community. The meals service is only available to adults who have been assessed as having a substantial or critical need for assistance with their nutritional needs under Barnet Council s Fair Access to Care Services eligibility criteria. This service is therefore targeted at vulnerable people. 2.2 To promote the independence of vulnerable adults. People who are malnourished are more vulnerable to disease and therefore less capable of leading independent lives. 2.3 To achieve value for money. The contract for meals provision is being awarded to the provider who on evaluation as outlined in this report offered the lowest costs and the best quality meals. 3. RISK MANAGEMENT ISSUES 3.1 The new contract will offer a more extensive service through the provision of a hot meal on 365 days a year (service users have no hot meal delivery on public holidays at present) and considerable expansion in the availability of meals for minority ethnic groups (see 4.4). The contract has been costed on the current mix of standard and non-standard meals and it is possible that the availability of a greater range of nonstandard meals will lead to increased costs as non-standard meals have a greater unit cost. 3.2 Team Barnet Catering also provide meals to day centres and luncheon clubs run by the Voluntary Sector including Friends in Need and Age Concern Barnet. This would cease under the new contract arrangements - 30,000 meals were provided last year. The new contract does include the possibility of access to contracted meals for voluntary sector customers. The voluntary sector is in discussion with other possible providers. Under any new arrangement running costs could increase which might affect Social Services. 3.3 Team Barnet Catering currently provide freshly cooked meals. The successful tenderer will provide frozen regenerated meals. Although nutritionist advice from the Primary Care Trust is that there are a number of factors which determine whether freshly cooked or regenerated meals are more nutritious, some residents have said they would prefer freshly cooked meals. Page 3 of 9

4 3.4 The delivery of kosher meals is undertaken by the Finchley Kosher Luncheon Service, a voluntary organisation whose volunteer drivers deliver a hot meal Monday Friday with additional chilled meals (for the Sabbath) and frozen meals (for Sundays) delivered on Fridays. They also undertake to deliver appropriate festival meals. This delivery arrangement will not be practicable under the new contract. The provision of kosher meals under Kedassia supervision (as at present) has been written into the contract specification and discussion will continue with the Finchley Kosher Luncheon Service in relation to the new arrangements. 4. EQUALITIES AND DIVERSITY ISSUES 4.1 The new contract states that the provider of the service must comply with Barnet Council s Equalities Policy which is provided as an Appendix to the Contract. 4.2 Barnet Council s Procurement Equalities policy was followed in the management of the tender process with the tenderers own equalities policies evaluated as part of that procedure. 4.3 The Home meals service will continue to be offered to any Adult who on assessment meets Barnet Council s Fair Access to Care Services eligibility criteria and requires the service. 4.4 An overall increase in the volume of meals to be supplied has resulted from this joint contract. This has made it feasible to extend the range of ethnic meals to include a number of smaller minority ethnic communities for whom to date it has not been possible to offer culturally appropriate meals (although these have frequently been requested by minority groups). Under the new contract it is expected that in addition to the specialist meals already supplied to Asian and Jewish service users, meals will be offered to Chinese, African Caribbean, Greek and Turkish communities. Every effort will be made to offer festival meals appropriate to minority groups. There will also be an option to extend the service to other emerging minority ethnic groups for example the Somali community if it appears that there is a demand for the service. 4.5 Service Users, their carers and older Barnet residents including members of minority ethnic groups have been involved in the consultation process as tender negotiations have proceeded including a blind food tasting of the short-listed tenderers meals. Page 4 of 9

5 5. FINANCIAL, STAFFING, ICT AND PROPERTY IMPLICATIONS 5.1 For financial information see Exempt Report 5.2 See Exempt report 5.3 Team Barnet Catering supply freshly prepared hot meals delivered by a team of up to 36 drivers managed by the transport section of Environmental and Neighbourhood Services. The administration of the service is undertaken by two permanent staff in the Resource Team in Adult Social Services. Contracting out the meals service will have TUPE and redundancy implications for these staff. 5.4 Meetings have been held with the staff affected. Officers have met with the Trade Unions to discuss TUPE implications. Enfield Council would expect a transfer of the two administrative staff. There will be further discussions with drivers about the implications of a TUPE transfer to the chosen provider of the meals and delivery service. A meeting with the chosen provider and unions will be facilitated. 5.5 The loss of community meals will lead to a reduction in contracted hours for kitchen staff who have provided a service to community meals during school holidays. Some kitchen staff are employed 52 weeks of the year and this reduction would have implications for their contracts of employment. Their manager wishes to retain their services for kitchen duties during school terms. It is not envisaged that there will be any TUPE implications for kitchen staff. 6. LEGAL ISSUES 6.1 The Council has a statutory obligation to provide meals to vulnerable adults under the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act The employment of staff within the service as referred to at paragraph 5.1 above, will be transferred to the successful tenderer pursuant to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE 2006). In circumstances where TUPE applies to a business transfer, the employees transferred will become employees of the transferee (ie the successful tenderer) by virtue of the statutory novation of their employment contracts under TUPE. This means that, in most respects, employees are entitled to the same terms and conditions of employment after the transfer as they had before it. 6.3 Under TUPE 2006, occupational pension scheme rights are excluded from any business transfer. However, although TUPE does not protect occupational pensions rights, they are now protected by pension trust arrangements under the Pensions Act 2004 (principally sections 257 and 258). The transferee employer is not required to continue identical occupational pension arrangements for the transferred employees. However, where transferred employees were entitled to participate in an occupational pension scheme prior to the transfer, the transferee employer must establish a minimum level of pension provision for the transferred employees. Page 5 of 9

6 6.4 A DTI guide to TUPE 2006 states amongst others, that in the public sector, the Government will continue to follow the policy set out in the HM Treasury note A Fair Deal for Staff Pensions. Therefore, under the tender documentation, the successful tenderer will be required to ensure that:: all transferred employees are offered membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) of which they were members or were eligible to be members prior to the transfer or are afforded pension rights which are certified by the Government Actuaries Department or by a professional qualified actuary as being broadly comparable to or better than the terms of the LGPS of which they were or were eligible to be members prior to the transfer. 7. CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS 7.1 Constitution, Part 3-Responsibility for Functions, Section 3-Responsibilities of the Executive. 8. BACKGROUND INFORMATION 8.1 In accordance with the Cabinet Resource Committee decision of 26 September 2005 it was agreed that the process of pursuing a joint contract for a Home Meals Service would be taken forward by a core tender group of Procurement and Adult Social Services staff from each Council overseen by a Joint Project Board attended additionally by senior officers of both Councils Adult Social Services Departments. 8.2 A Memorandum of Understanding to take forward the joint contract was agreed on 3rd March 2006 by the Joint Project Board. 8.3 It was agreed that the contract (s), when awarded, should run for 3 years from 1 st April 2007 and the Council may, at its discretion and with the Contractor s agreement, extend the term by a period not exceeding two years 8.4 Following a period when each Council carried out consultations with its own service users and other stakeholders, a joint consultation meeting was held on 25 April 2006 for staff, users/carers, voluntary organisations representing older people s interests including those directly contracted for meals with Team Barnet Catering (see 3.4) to discuss the specification for the new meals service and timescales for the tendering process. 8.5 In compliance with Council Procedures and European legislation for a contract of this size a call for competition was issued to the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) on 20 April 2006 and advertisements were then placed in relevant trade papers requesting potential providers to express their interest in tendering for the joint meals contract. 8.6 Pre-Qualification Questionnaires (PQQ) devised by the core tender group were made available to interested organisations. Seven PQQs were returned by the closing date of 31 May All organisations were assessed in six areas of which three were seen as mandatory with a pass/fail evaluation. The weightings attributed to each of the other areas are shown below: Page 6 of 9

7 Evaluation Criteria Weighting % Section A Company Information Mandatory Section B Technical Resources and References 50% Section C Financial Information Mandatory Section D Health and Safety 30% Section E Environmental Issues 20% Section F Undertaking Mandatory Total 100% As a result of this evaluation five organisations were selected to be invited to tender for the hot meals service. The details of this evaluation are shown in the exempt report. Invitation to Tender documents were issued on 5 July In all 4 tenders were received by the closing date of 15 August Tender Evaluation: Tenders were initially checked to ensure compliance with the Terms and Conditions and clarifications were sought in respect of specific financial and legal issues. On 24 th August all tenderers underwent an evaluation by the core tender group. All organisations were assessed in five areas with weightings attributed to each of the areas as follows: Evaluation Criteria Weighting % Value for Money 25% Quality 25% Technical Ability 20% Capacity 20% Staff 10% Total 100% As a result of this evaluation the top three tenderers were invited for presentation. Details of this evaluation are shown in the exempt report. 8.8 Providers of the meals service were asked to cost the administration of the meals contract separately from the meals provision and delivery. Enfield was invited to bid for the administration aspect of the contract. Council officers audited the administration processes and procedures provided by Enfield Council and this was assessed as working to a high standard. Administration includes processing referrals, inputting information on to IT systems, customer liaison setting up and cancelling meals, telephone monitoring of service user satisfaction, reconciliation of provision of meals against service user invoicing, management of stage one complaints, maintenance of paper and electronic records. Page 7 of 9

8 8.9 The bulk of the budget to finance this contract is made up from service user contributions. Very reliable data is required from which to invoice the service users. Officers advise that the procedures operated by Enfield should protect the service users from not being invoiced incorrectly and the council by being in a good position to invoice service users for meals delivered to ensure income Council officers feel that the risks of the council and service users will be better mitigated if administration and monitoring is provided by Enfield Council and income collection remains the responsibility of Barnet Council and recommend this option Contract Award: The contract award was made on the basis on the frame work already used for evaluating the tenders into which were also factored the following additional elements required of the three short-listed tenderers: evaluations of site visits to delivery depots and food production facilities evaluations of blind food tasting of meals (28 September 2006) evaluations of formal presentation and interview responses (17 October 2006) Evaluation Criteria Weighting % Section A - Value for Money 25% Section B Quality + Evaluation of food tasting and responses to Interview Questions 4,5 &6 25% Section C - Technical Ability + Evaluation of Site Visits 20% Section D Capacity + Evaluation of responses to Interview Question 3 and scenario 20% Section E - Staff+ Evaluation of responses to Interview Questions 1 & 2 10% Total 100% Details of this evaluation are shown in the exempt report. As a result of this evaluation one of the short listed tenderers, Sodexho was shown to score best both in terms of value for money and quality factors. It is recommended that Sodexho, be awarded the contract for meals provision and delivery on the basis of cost and quality. 9. LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS 9.1 None Page 8 of 9

9 10. DECISION OF THE CABINET MEMBER(S) I/We authorise the following action 10.1 That Sodexho be awarded the contract for the provision and delivery of meals 10.2 That Enfield Council provide the administration and monitoring for the meals service 10.3 That Barnet Council retains the responsibility for the income collection. Signed Cllr Lynne Hillan Cabinet Member for Community Services Page 9 of 9