United Kingdom-Dumbarton: Managed Work for Housing Benefit (HB) and Council Tax Reduction (CTR) Claims

Type of document: Invitation to tender
Country: United Kingdom
OJEU Ref: (2018/S 086-193621/EN)
Nature of contract: Service contract
Procedure: Open procedure
Regulation of procurement: EU – with participation by GPA countries
Type of bid required: Global bid

Contract notice
Services
Directive 2014/24/EU

Section I: Contracting authority
I.1) Name and addresses
Official name: West Dunbartonshire Council
Postal address: Garshake Road
Town: Dumbarton
Postal code: G82 3PU
Country: United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 1389737000
Email: procurement@west-dunbarton.gov.uk
Internet address(es):
Main address:
Address of the buyer profile:

The contract is awarded by central purchasing body
I.3) Communication
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge,at:www.publictendersscotland.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk
Additional information can be obtained from:
the above mentioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be submitted:
electronically via:www.publictendersscotland.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Regional or local authority
I.5) Main activity
General public services

Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title: Managed Work for Housing Benefit (HB) and Council Tax Reduction (CTR) Claims

Reference number: 1718-16
II.1.2) Main CPV code: 66171000
II.1.3) Type of contract: Services
II.1.4) Short Description: West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC) is seeking the provision of Off-Site Housing and Council Tax Benefits Data Processing Services.
The aim is to assist WDC by assessing HB and CTR claims and the successful bidder will process new claims and change of circumstances claims to completion.

II.1.6) Information about lots:
The contract is divided into lots: no
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
66171000

II.2.3) Place of performance
Nuts code: UKM81
II.2.4) Description of the procurement:
West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC) is seeking the provision of Off-Site Housing and Council Tax Benefits Data Processing Services.
The aim is to assist WDC by assessing HB and CTR claims and the successful bidder will process new claims and change of circumstances claims to completion.
Requirements will include:
— a low cost, off-site processing solution,
— guaranteed output with a high level of accuracy,
— a reliable, secure and fast electronic connection to their virtual network and industry best practice security,
— proven governance and management arrangements,
— achievement of service standards,
— access to proven toolkits, processes and best practice for individual service areas,
— access to expertise and professional capacity from their existing talent pool,
— extensive experience of liaising with client service teams,
— processing and ongoing management of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction cases.
Suppliers require to be fully trained and approved by the DWP. The terms and conditions of Department for Work and Pension’s 2008 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to access the Customer Management System (CIS) states that all assessors must have undertaken the CIS training and signed the confidentiality agreement.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Criteria below
Quality criterion -Name: Service delivery / methodology/Weighting:18Quality criterion -Name: Employee skills and training/Weighting:8Quality criterion -Name: Contract monitoring, reporting and performance management/Weighting:4Quality criterion -Name: Project plan and milestones/Weighting:2Quality criterion -Name: Business Continuity, Phase Out and Exit Strategy/Weighting:2Quality criterion -Name: Community benefits/Weighting:2Quality criterion -Name: Sustainability/Weighting:2Quality criterion -Name: Fair Working Practices/Weighting:1.6Quality criterion -Name: e-Procurement/Weighting:0.4
Price – Weighting:60
II.2.7) Duration of the contract,framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 24
This contract is subject to renewalyes Description of renewals:Option to extend for a further 12 month extension subject to requirement and satisfactory performance as determined by the Council.

II.2.9) Information about the limits on the number of candidates to be invited
II.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted: no
II.2.11) Information about options
Options: no
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:no

Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information
III.1) Conditions for participation
III.1.1) Suitability to pursue the professional activity,including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers
List and brief description of conditions:Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in regulation 8 and 9 of the Procurement (Scotland) Regulations 2016.
If required by the member state, bidders are required to be enrolled in the relevant professional or trade registers within the country in which they are established.
Tenderers are required to have signed the Terms and Conditions of the Department for Work and Pension’s 2008 Memorandum of Understanding. Tenderers are also required to be accredited with ISO9001 and ISO27001. Copies of certificates must be uploaded with the tender submission. Tenderers are also required to evidence that they have a minimum of 2 years experience of working with the Northgate Benefit system and Comino Management system and that they have a minimum of 2 years experience of processing housing benefit and council tax reduction data.
III.1.2) Economic and financial standing
List and brief description of selection criteria: Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.
Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required: With reference to ESPD questions:
4B.1.2 Turnover — supplier must demonstrate an annual turnover for each of the 2 previous years of greater than 2 times the annual value of contract on offer est.75 000 GBP, therefore a turnover of 150 000 GBP is required
Ratios — a Pass in any 2 of the 3 ratios as an overall Pass for Economic and Financial standing.
— (Ratio 1) Acid Test – (Current Assets-stock) / Current Liabilities. To pass the Acid Test Ratio question the bidder must have a score of greater than 1,
— (Ratio 2) Return on Capital Employed %– Profit / Capital employed. To pass this question the Council require the bidder to score a positive figure / Percentage,
— (Ratio 3) Current Ratio – Current Assets / Liabilities. To pass this question the Council require the bidder to achieve a score of greater than 1.
WDC will use template WD09 — WDC Financial Vetting Questionnaire v1.0, it is recommended that candidates review their own ratio scores in advance of submitting their tender. In the event that a firm does not meet the financial criteria for consideration but has a parent company that does, the firm may still be eligible for consideration where their Tender Submission is supported by a Parent Company Guarantee WD04 — Parent Company Guarantee refers. Should after review of the financial evaluation of tenderer fail, then the tender submission may be rejected.
Insurance.
Q4B.5.1 – It is a requirement of this contract that bidders hold, or can commit to obtain prior to the commencement of any subsequently awarded contract, the types and levels of insurance listed below:
— employers Liability Insurance — 10 000 000 GBP each and every claim.
Q4B5.2.
— public and Product Liability Insurance — 10 000 000 GBP each and every claim,
— professional Indemnity Insurance — 5 000 000 GBP each and every claim.

Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required:These question will be scored in line with “Evaluation Methodology” as detailed in WD01 however a minimum “pass” threshold of 2 acceptable(50 %) must be achieved or the tenderer will have failed to meet the Councils requirements and therefore will not progress tostage 2 “award criteria (Technical and Commercial envelopes).
With reference to ESPD question 4C.1.2, bidders will be required to provide 2 examples that demonstrate that they have the relevant experience to deliver the Managed Work for Housing Benefit (HB) and Council Tax Reduction (CTR) Claims as described in part II.2.4 of this Contract Notice or the relevant section of the Site Notice.
ESPD 4D.1 contractors need to demonstrate satisfactory Quality Management accreditation or standards.
1. The bidder must hold a UKAS (or equivalent) accredited independent third party certificate of compliance in accordance with BS EN ISO 9001 (or equivalent),
OR.
2. The bidder must have the following:
a. A documented policy regarding quality management. The policy must set out responsibilities for quality management demonstrating that the bidder has, and continues to implement, a quality management policy that is authorised by their Chief Executive, or equivalent, which is periodically reviewed at a senior management level. The policy must be relevant to the nature and scale of the work to be undertaken and set out responsibilities for quality management throughout the organisation;
b. Documented procedures for periodically reviewing, correcting and improving quality performance including processes for ensuring that the bidder’s quality management is effective in reducing/preventing incidents of sub-standard delivery. This must include the quality of output and general performance;
c. A documented process for ensuring that quality management is effective in reducing / preventing incidents of sub-standard delivery. This must include the quality of output and general performance. The bidder must be able to provide copies of their organisation’s documentation procedures that meet current agreed good practice. These must include the arrangements for quality management throughout the bidder’s organisation. They must set out how the bidder’s organisation will carry out its policy, with a clear indication of how the arrangements are communicated to the workforce;
d. Documented arrangements for providing the bidder’s workforce with quality related training and information appropriate to the type of work for which this organisation is likely to bid. This will demonstrate that the organisation has in place, and implements, training arrangements to ensure that its workforce has sufficient skills and understanding to discharge their various responsibilities. These must include a programme of training that will keep the workforce up to date with required knowledge about quality related issues, including copies of job profiles; training manuals and records;
e. Documented arrangements that the organisation has a system for monitoring quality management procedures on an on-going basis. The bidder’s organisation must be able to provide evidence of systematic, periodic review and improvement of quality in respect of output and general performance;
f. Documented arrangements for ensuring that the bidders apply quality management measures that are appropriate to the work for which they are being engaged;
g. A documented process demonstrating how the bidder deals with complaints. The bidder must be able to provide details of how their organisation maintains records of any complaints received and how corrective measures are carried out to prevent reoccurrence.
Bidders will be required to confirm whether they intend to subcontract and, if so, what proportion of the contract.

Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure:
Open procedureIV.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement(GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: yes
IV.2) Administrative information
IV.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
Date: 2018-06-11 Local time: 12:00
IV.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted:EN
IV.2.6) Minimum time frame during which the tender must maintain the tender
Duration in months:4(from the date stated for receipt of tender)
IV.2.7) Conditions for opening tenders
Date: 2018-06-11 Local time: 12:00

Section VI: Complementary information
VI.1) Information about recurrence:
This is a recurrent procurement: no
VI.2) Information about electronic workflows
Electronic ordering will be used
Electronic invoicing will be accepted
Electronic payment will be used
VI.3) Additional information:
TUPE may apply.
The documents entitled “Supplier Certificates and additional Selection Criteria” are found in the general attachments area of PCS-T and should be completed and presented at the “Request for Documentation” stage on PCS-T.
Please note that all of these documents must be signed by an authorised signatory:
1. WD04 Parent Company Guarantee – if required;
2. WD05 Non Collusion Certificate;
3. WD07 Certificate of Non-Canvassing;
4. WD08 FOI Declaration;
5. WD09 WDC Financial Vetting Questionnaire;
6. WD15 Police Scotland Checks;
7. WDC Declaration;
8. WDC Security Assessment;
9. H and S Policy;
10. Insurance documents – Evidence of your company’s insurance certificates detailing the required level of insurances as per the levels stated within this Site Notice and as detailed within the Invitation to Tender document uploaded within the general attachments area.
The above constitutes tender selection criteria. Failure to respond will result in exclusion from the tender.
With reference to information sharing with Police Scotland, bidders will be required to confirm acceptance to sharing the company director’s details at preferred bidder status.
Minimum requirements to pass the qualification envelope, exclusion and selection criteria.
Discretionary Scored Questions – Shortlisting Qualification Envelope Questions.
These questions will be scored in line with the “Evaluation Methodology” detailed in WD01.
Technical Envelope:Tenderers are required to confirm compliance with the Terms and Conditions of Contract, failure to comply with these may result in the Tender Submission not being considered further.
Q4D.1 Mandatory Pass / Fail Question – Health and Safety.
The bidder must hold a UKAS (or equivalent), accredited independent third party certificate of compliance in accordance with BS OHSAS 18001 (or equivalent) or have, within the last 12 months, successfully met the assessment requirements of a construction-related scheme in registered membership of the Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) forum.
or.
A – The bidder must have a regularly reviewed and documented policy for Health and Safety (H and S) management, endorsed by the Chief Executive Officer, or equivalent. The policy must be relevant to the nature and scale of the work and set out responsibilities for H and S management at all levels within the organisation. The policy must be relevant to the nature and scale of your operations and set out your company’s responsibilities of health and safety management and compliance with legislation.
Note: Organisations with fewer than five employees are not required by law to have a documented policy.
Statement.
The buyer is using PCS-Tender to conduct this ITT exercise. The Project code is 10720. For more information see:

Community benefits are included in this requirement. For more information see:

A summary of the expected community benefits has been provided as follows:
WDC will allow and consider contractors offers of community benefits which will be scored within the technical response to the ITT.
The buyer is using PCS-Tender to conduct this ITT exercise. The Project code is 10720. For more information see:
A sub-contract clause has been included in this contract. For more information see:
Community benefits are included in this requirement. For more information see:
A summary of the expected community benefits has been provided as follows:
Tenderers are requested to offer community benefits within the technical envelope responses. If accepted by the Council, they will consider these to be a contractual requirement. Community benefits will be scored within the technical response to the ITT.
(SC Ref:539969).
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
Official name: West Dunbartonshire Council
Postal address: Garshake Road
Town: Dumbarton
Postal code: G82 3PU
Country: United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 1389737000
Internet address:
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice:2018-05-03