DCAF-National Kinship Care Advice Service

The Scottish Government has a requirement to place a contract with an external service provider for the provision of a National Kinship Care Advice Service. The Scottish Government Children and Families Directorate, on behalf of the Care Experience and Whole Family Wellbeing division, wishes to commission a National Kinship Care Service.

The purpose of the Service is to provide relevant support, and up to date advice and information, including peer support, specifically tailored to the needs of kinship carers and children and young people living in kinship care. The new service should also provide a platform for bringing kinship care families together and the sharing of practice between local authorities and other agencies.

The procurement will follow an Open Procedure. If there are named subcontractors/technicians upon which the bidder will rely to meet the selection criteria, these named parties must complete and reattach the SPD Supplier Response Form attached to SPD questions 2C.1.1 (Technicians) and 2D.1.2 (Subcontractors) on PCS-T.

This will require active monitoring of payment performance and provision of evidence and reporting to the Scottish Government on a regular basis. Bidders who fail to answer “Yes” to this question will not have their tender considered further. 4C.7 Light Touch: Bidders will be required to confirm that they will employ environmental management measures that meet the following requirements: Evidence that their organisation has taken steps to build their awareness of the climate change emergency and consideration of how they will respond.

This should include details of planned projects and actions to reduce the bidder’s carbon emissions. 4C.10 Bidders will be required to confirm whether they intend to sub-contract and if so, for what proportion of the contract. Bidders must confirm that they will pay staff that are involved in the delivery of services under the contract, at least the real Living Wage.

Any tenderer who answers "No" to this question will not be subject to further evaluation. Bidders will be required to complete a Supplier Assurance Questionnaire with a Moderate risk allocated. Suppliers must pass the initial questionnaire or provide a Cyber Implementation Plan.