Bristol City Council - Managing the Council's Adult Social Care Services - One Framework

Overview

Historically, Adult Social Care (ASC) services at Bristol City Council were commissioned from approximately 480 different providers, with annual spending approaching £185 million. Previously, service procurement relied on four major frameworks—Care Homes, Home Care, Community Support Services, and Sheltered Housing—supplemented by numerous spot contracts. Each framework operated with its own contract structure, terms, and pricing mechanisms, resulting in significant administrative burden for both council staff and care providers.

This fragmented commissioning landscape was characterised by outdated models, siloed contracting, and budgetary constraints that collectively inhibited innovation across the sector. To address these challenges, a strategic project was launched to consolidate ASC purchasing into a single unified framework, aimed at ensuring better alignment between supply, quality, and price.

Transitioning to one comprehensive framework for ASC delivers several key benefits:

- It simplifies and harmonises contracting, which streamlines administrative processes for both the Council and suppliers.

- Standardisation of contracts and processes reduces variability, making the application and review processes more efficient and accessible, particularly through well-defined qualitative criteria.

- A more approachable framework encourages participation from a broader range of providers, increasing competition and reducing off-contract expenditures.

The new “One Framework” integrates nine separate Lots, each designed to support diverse service areas. This structure not only covers a wide spectrum of needs but also provides opportunities for providers to innovate, diversify services, and expand capacity in response to demand fluctuations. This comprehensive approach represents a significant advancement in ASC commissioning, fostering improved efficiency, greater market access, and more effective service delivery for the local authority and its partners.

The Challenge

In delivering the innovative approach of a single framework V4 had to overcome several challenges in creative and enhancing ways, the challenges overcome were.

• Duty to achieve Best Value – Demonstrating better value for money by clarifying rates for care and a pricing mechanism/cost methodology which are benchmarked against established nationally informed payment rates.

• Compliance with legal framework - Where we aligned contractual documents and procedures across the ASC purchasing budget, making it easier for all stakeholders to understand and reduce time spent clarifying contractual terms with social workers and providers.
• Develop local market and SMEs – v4 helped the market understand procurement lifecycle by running knowledgeable market events to make sure our client’s suppliers understand procurement and had the skills and resources to deliver high quality services.

• Managing timescales - Reducing internal staff time spent on administrating frameworks, freeing up time for transformation activity, quality assurance, market shaping and development.

• Managing Risk - A risk register for the One Framework was owned and managed by Procurement in line with client procurement policy. The procurement lead (V4) formally reviews its assessment on a monthly basis, or on an ad-hoc basis if an early warning of a risk is notified by the client.
• Contract Management – A ‘special’ relationship was built with each supplier (via brokerage and commissioning) to build strategic alignment, realise additional opportunities for innovation, and use synergy across multiple contracts to drive consistent performance and efficiency. The Client has a leading contract management framework in place, with a designated team who progress on rolling out the contract management framework, processes and assurance for its high risk/value portfolio.

The Solution

A Project team was formed and led by V4 Procurement to embed co-production into the way ASC procure services. The use of a framework allowed providers to apply once for an opportunity and for new emergent into the market to apply and join the framework at any given time.

Contract Weighting/Employment and community Benefits/Market engagement were developed and led by V4 procurement lead where a commitment to take an innovate approach with the aim to bring together a single contractual arrangement.

The introduction of capped rates enables Client to manage cost across all lots.

The intention was to simplify and standardise the application process to join the framework and reduce duplication and increase accessibility for diverse providers, such as Black-Led organisations, VCSE and SMEs.

The procurement of a single financial, procurement and contract management compliant framework for the majority of ASC third party spend will lead to:

• Simpler, consolidated contractual arrangement which significantly cut maverick spend within ASC departments.
• Enables flexible & innovative commissioning, Lot 9 was introduced to provide commissioners and brokerage with the opportunity to compete a diverse range of services and develop innovative care packages that address complex and cross-cutting needs. This allowed for the creation of tailored solutions by engaging multiple providers, fostering collaboration, and maximising the potential for meeting the unique requirements of service users.
• Enables robust financial management across care pathways and have better mechanisms in place to provide and monitor prompt payment to suppliers.
• Easier for VCSE and diverse led organisations to work with BCC by having direct access to one area instead of multiple clients across the council.

The Outcome

Since award of Round 1 and 2 of the frameworks, resource is available for value adding transformation, innovative commissioning, and quality assurance activity with improved procurement compliance. Call-off Procedure is primarily further competitions through the relevant lot or lots. Evaluation criteria is decided at point of call-off, meaning this could be price only or price and quality (for more complex block call-offs).

Clearer relationships with providers and stakeholders and a mechanism for integrated commissioning.

• Development local SMEs (particularly third sector) confidence in procurement
• Cost saving via direct award and mini competitions.
• Capped rates on all Lots.
• Joined up integrated service provision.
• Added value consortium partners can bring to the contract - Streamlined.
• Reduction of contract management costs.
• Reduction of invoicing and administration costs.
• Reduction on tendering costs.

Key Successes

During Round 1 of the procurement exercise there were 242 bids received and during Round 2 there were 267 bids received. The overall success of the project has led to a competitive marketplace with the capacity to deliver good services across the care cohorts.

The successes of the opportunity have allowed our Client to be much more strategic in how they procure high risk adults services and manage the overall supply chain.

There has been improved procurement compliance as well as a clear mechanism for integrated commissioning of services.

Without the framework in place, and the absence of a structured procurement process there was a high likelihood for an increase in costs of care due to a lack of price caps.

The new ranking profile creates a commercial environment in which care providers operate placements are offered first to those providers with the right mix of price and quality.

Non-cashable savings due to streamlined services under one framework with set term and conditions that allow the Client to better hold providers to clear performance standards and make it clearer for providers the expectations for quality of care.

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