Commissioning Possible Our experience with commissioning - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Commissioning Possible

• Supporting organisations to bid for

contracts

• Supporting public sector bodies to engage

with VCSE organisations

• Developing consortiums
• Procuring providers to work with

communities

• Managing contracts

Our experience with commissioning

The commissioning cycle

• Introduction of the Light Touch Regime (LTR)
• Emphasis on engaging with the market pre-

competition

• Financial standing
• Lots
• Contracts Finder
• New regulations to reserve contracts for

mutuals/social enterprises, however…

Public Contracts Regulations 2015

Which process/es apply?

• has a public service mission linked to the delivery of

the services.

• reinvests profits in order to achieve its objectives (and

any distribution must be on a participatory basis).

• involves a degree of employee ownership or

participation in management or requires the active participation of employees, users or stakeholders.

• the authority has not awarded it a reserved contract for

the services in the past 3 years.

Qualifying conditions (Reg 77):

• Regardless of the process the following principles

apply:

• Transparency
• Non-discrimination
• Proportionality
• Mutual recognition (between EU states to allow

for free movement of goods)

• The PCR applies to contracts, not grants

Remember…

Reviewing services

• If you’re already delivering a service you have an

ability to shift the thinking of a commissioner

• Be clear about challenges and unexplored
• pportunities
• If you’re not an incumbent be positive about your

delivery but be careful about pitching for work

• Create the conditions where you can bid
• Recognise constraints and the changing environment

and establish expertise

Reviewing services

The commissioning cycle

Assessing needs and priorities

• Commissioners may formally issue a call for evidence
• Be careful about how evaluation may be seen:
• 1. Issue X is a problem
• 2. Process Y is the solution
• 3. We deliver solution Y
• 4. So fund us
• A pitch for work may discredit the evidence
• Let your evidence stand on its merits – imply steps 3 & 4
• Create the conditions for a successful bid rather than

directly pitch

Assessing needs and priorities

The commissioning cycle

Specifying services

• Commissioners face constraints
• Public Contracts Regulations
• Funding cuts
• Decommissioning
• Fit with the broader system
• Commissioners may not know what they want
• Commissioners may have to buy services they don’t

understand

• Nervous commissioners may over-specify

Specifying services – design challenges

• Some commissioners have a better understanding of

market provision than others

• Some may go to market without any understanding of

who is likely to be willing to deliver

• It’s important you try to understand the market you’re

in

• Information asymmetry can create imbalances of

power in markets

Specifying services – market scoping

Procurement

• What the commissioner wants to buy is more

important than what you want to sell

• Don’t see the invitation to bid as a way of securing

funding for an existing service

• Apply your skills and assets to solving their problem
• Don’t work for a bad client
• Read the specification
• Ask questions and get clarification
• Develop a bespoke delivery model that meets the

specification

Procurement – before bidding

• Ask questions
• If you think there’s something wrong or unfair with a

process then raise the issue when it emerges – you can’t complain after the process has run its course

• Ask questions
• Don’t submit the bid on the day of the deadline
• Ask questions

Procurement – when bidding

• Talking about your organisation rather than the

proposed service

• Talking about things that are important to you, not the

commissioner

• Not giving examples
• Not using available space/too many words
• Bad editing
• Irrelevant information in proposals
• Overselling/underselling
• Information not specific enough

Procurement – common errors

Procurement - track record

Don’t just list achievements. For any example given a panel is likely to ask:

• So what?
• Is there proof?

Quality and relevance is better than quantity and breadth Avoid saying “we have links with” if you can be more specific about the relationship

• How you will apply your track record is critical
• Your track record is often in your staff rather than the
• rganisation
• You can buy a track record with good recruitment
• Organisational processes
• In house training

Procurement – track record

• Is the commissioner important to them?
• Organisational changes can overpower local

relationships

• Are they too rigid in their approach?
• Brand awareness can be a negative
• Distant management/governance
• Development teams don’t manage services
• Track record across the organisation isn’t as

convincing as may be assumed

Procurement – the problem with large organisations

• The commissioner may want a lead contractor who will

be accountable for other delivery partners

• All partnerships need management
• Think about how organisations will work together and

how boundaries between organisations will be managed

• Think about the impact of diverse systems (eg

complaints, HR, accounting, recruitment)

Partnerships

3 organisations

6 organisations

6 organisations

• Recruitment risks – can you hire a member of staff?

How long will it take? What happens if you can’t appoint

• Management risks – cost of partnership working/is

there understanding of the delivery environment

• User engagement risks – it’ll often take longer than is

assumed/is there an ability to flex delivery or change the approach/’people like me’ issues

Procurement - risks

• Feedback is constrained
• Commissioner can’t reveal contents of other

successful/unsuccessful bids

• Too late to complain about aspects of bidding process
• ther than assessment
• Be positive and seek informal feedback

Procurement - feedback

Delivery

• Partnership issues – management and relationships
• Providers getting into difficulties with other work
• Monitoring and evaluation under-resourced
• Administrative challenges
• Staff changes
• Issues with sub-contractors

All these issues can affect the way the commissioner buys in future

Delivery challenges

Overall

• What does the commissioner want to buy? What

problem do they want solved?

• How can you help them?
• Is the work deliverable?
• Have you done this before?
• Who else will bid?
• Do you want to work for them?

Overall

Led by: Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisation St Thomas Centre Ardwick Green North Manchester M12 6FZ T: 0161 277 1000 W: www.ambitionforageing.org.uk