The purpose of the report is to approve a new procurement approach for the provision of Disabled Facilities Grants (DFG’s) including the proposal to join the Plymouth City Council Adaptation, Repair, Maintenance and Improvement Dynamic Purchasing System (ARMI DPS) which is administered and managed by Independence Community Interest Company (INCIC). The cost is anticipated to be in the region of £10k to £13k per year.

This new approach ensures the council meets the requirements of the Public Contracts Regulations (PCR 2015) and is compliant for all contracting authorities to use, negating the need for a new competitive procurement process.

That:

(a)       The council adopts a new procurement process for the services and supplies required for the delivery of Disabled Facilities Grants (DFG); and

(b)        The council joins the Plymouth City Council Adaptation, Repair, Maintenance and Improvement Dynamic Purchasing System which is administered and managed by Independence Community Interest Company in order to deliver the new procurement approach for an initial period of 3 years (subject to the ARMI DPS being renewed); with the option to extend for a further two years if use of the ARMI DPS proves to be successful.

1.         Do nothing – this option is not recommended as the current arrangements and purchasing processes are time consuming and therefore inefficient.

2.         Develop a local framework agreement – the costs associated with developing and administering a local framework would be significantly higher than the recommended proposal of the DPS and would also lead to a higher level of risk. This includes the inability to add new providers during the lifetime of the framework and therefore has council contribute to issues in relation to the inability to meet demand.

3.         Join a number of different frameworks – this option is not recommended as the DFG scheme covers a wide range of services and supplies. This is the option that has been previously pursued and the needs of the council and service users have not been met.  The costs and staff time involved in managing individual processes would not deliver value for money