Home Based Care Services - Open Framework

Portsmouth City Council ('the council') is inviting applications from suitably qualified suppliers to be admitted to an Open Framework to provide home-based care services, ordinarily in Portsmouth, but occasionally in the surrounding area. Domiciliary care services support people to remain living successfully in their own homes. The service will help maintain an individual in a reasonable manner of health, hygiene, safety and ease in their own home. The level and type of support service required will be determined in line with each individual's support plan. Support service packages will vary in size based on the individual needs and may range from minimal support up to highly specialised and complex needs. The framework agreement is targeted for commencement on 1st July 2026. The framework will operate for an initial term of 8 years. It will be an Open Framework which will reopen once within the first 3-year period, and the Council will open it again at least once in the remaining 5-year contract term as required under Regulation 49 of the Procurement Act 23. The Council may opt to open the framework for applications earlier than required, although not likely to be ever more than once per year. Re-opening may be in relation to the framework agreement in its entirety or in relation to specific lots. Earlier re-opening could be triggered by a range of factors, which may include but are not limited to: * Supply & demand changes * Changes to requirements * Changes to framework lotting structure * Changes to pricing structures * Changes to qualitative assessment * Changes to framework management * Addition of new framework lots * Changes to demand, volumes, values and geographical coverage due to impact of Local Government Re-organisation The framework agreement will be split into 3 Lots as follows: * Lot 1 - Standard Home-Based Care * Lot 2 - Complex Home-Based Care * Lot 3 - Take a Break (formerly Sitting Service) The Council currently commissions approx. 60,000 - 65,000 hours of home care per month across 1,000 - 1,200 clients. Approximately 68% of these hours are for Lot 1 Standard Home-Based Care services with the remaining 28% for Lot 2 Complex Home-Based Care services and 4% for Lot 3 Take a Break Services. The Council spend on year to date (November 24 - November 2025) comes to approx. PS22.8M on home-based care services over financial year 2025-26. Spend on Lot 1 - Standard Home-Based Care services over this period equates to PS15.9M / 69.6%. Spend on Lot 2 - Complex Home-Based Care equates to PS6.3M / 27.8%. Spend on Lot 3 - Take a Break services is expected to equate to PS600k / 2.6%. Year on year spend over term of the framework cannot be accurately estimated to precise figures but is likely to increase year on year due to predicted increases in inflation, employee wage increases and increases in demand due to changing population demographics, increased life expectancies, continuing strategic focus on increasing home based care delivery and impacts of Local Government Reorganization, which could increase the annual value by approximately 50% from year 3 onwards following vesting day for the new unitary authority which the framework agreement will transfer to. A maximum of 40 suppliers will be appointed onto each Lot. Suppliers will be able to bid for multiple Lots and can be awarded places on multiple Lots. Suppliers with multiple eligible Registered Offices will also be able to submit bids for each registered office with each registered office taking one of the 40 framework spaces if successful. For Lots 1 & 2 the Council will establish the framework on a market led rate commercial strategy. For Lot 1 - Standard Home-Based Care a minimum rate of PS21.00 and maximum rate of PS24.40 will apply. Rates may be submitted below the minimum rate but will be subject to additional scrutiny around sustainability and may be rejected. For Lot 2 - Complex Home-Based Care a minimum rate of PS21.00 will apply but no maximum rate will be applied due to high variability in the type and complexity of care that may be required under this Lot. As per Lot 1, rates may be submitted below the minimum rate but will be subject to additional scrutiny around sustainability and may be rejected. For Lot 3 - Take a Break pricing will remain at a set rate of PS20.08 to support management of a discrete budget via the Carer's Service. Minimum and maximum rates - as well as the hourly rate paid for any package of care commissioned under the new Framework - will be eligible for an uplift in April 2027. For Lots 1 & 2, framework suppliers will be able to reduce their rates up to twice per framework operational year. Suppliers will also be able to apply to increase rates subject to Financial Stability Review application to the Council. The Council will consider the request in addition to assessing a Provider's financial stability, risks associated and the Rates the Provider proposes to resolve their financial difficulty. The acceptance of any increased rate as part of this process sits directly at the Council's discretion. Any changes will trigger a recalculation of assessment and subsequent revised Lot ranking. The revised rates will apply to any existing packages of care delivered by the supplier under contract with the Council. The Council will apply annual uplifts to supplier rates as well as the minimum & maximum rate ranges that apply for Lots 1 & 2. The increase will take the form of a % of which 70% will be taken from the most recent EARON03 index and 30% will be taken from most recent CPI. Suppliers will only be eligible for uplift to rates if they been appointed onto the framework agreement for more than 6 months. Suppliers will also be able to opt out of increases by request to the Council before 1st March each year. However, the Council reserves the right to alter its position in respect of uplifts on an overall framework or Lot specific basis, subject to reasonable notice, over the term of the framework. The Council will establish the framework agreement via a Competitive Flexible Procedure 2 stage procurement process in accordance with the relevant regulations contained within the Procurement Act 23 that apply to Light Touch Regime services and establishment & operation of Open Frameworks. The 2 stage process is summarised below: * Stage 1: Providers will complete a series of pass/fail questions (Procurement Specific Questionnaire) and submit pricing * Stage 2: The Council will conduct a partial Provider Assessment and Market Managements Solutions (PAMMS) assessment A score will be calculated based on the rate submitted (representing 60% of the score) and the PAMMS assessment (representing 40% of the score). Suppliers will then be ranked within each Lot based on their combined score. Every year, framework providers will complete a further PAMMS assessment and will be re-ranked based on new assessment scores. Once operational the opportunity to bid for packages of care under the framework will be advertised via the Council's brokerage system and will be awarded based on a set of cascading criteria: a. Packages are sent with a 1-hour deadline. b. Offers received within the first hour are considered. c. Offers received where the Provider can fully meet all the requirements detailed in the referral, for example the need for a gender specific carer. d. Highest Evaluation Score, then if there is more than one Provider with the same score: * Lowest Priced, then if there is more than one Provider with the same price, * Weighted Quality Score, then if there is more than one Provider with the same weighted quality score * The Provider that responded first. The Council will undertake the procurement process to establish the open framework in line with the programme set out below: * Contract notice published - 12th November 2025 * Online TEAMS Tender Briefing Session 1 - 19th November 2025 12:00 - 13:00 * Online TEAMS Tender Briefing Session 2 - 20th November 2025 09:00 - 10:00 * Deadline for requests for clarification - 12th December 2025 17:00 * Tender return deadline for Stage 1 - 22nd December 2025 12:00 * Tenderers notified of Stage 1 evaluation outcome - 30th January 2026 * Stage 2 quality evaluation - 9th February - 1st June 2026 * Deadline for establishing qualifying local CQC registered office - 5th May 2026 17:00 * Award decision notified to tenderers - 15th June 2026 * Standstill Period Start - 16th June 2026 * Standstill Period Concludes - 26th June 2026 23:59 * Contract Award confirmed and contracts issued - 29th June 2026 * Framework commencement - 1st July 2026 Suppliers who wish to attend the online TEAMS tender briefings can access the meetings via the meeting links provided within the Invitation to Tender document accessible via In-tend. Application is via submission of completed stage 1 applications by the deadline stated above via the Council's e-sourcing system InTend, which is accessible via: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/portsmouthcc/aspx/Home The system will be used to administrate the procurement process, including for: * Access to and issue of procurement information & documentation * Pre-tender submission clarification requests and response * Tender submission * Tender opening & access to responses * Post-tender submission clarification requests and response * Award decision notification & feedback.