Tender bulletin - 28 December 2022
This is a special bulletin about tendering of care homes, supported living, and home support specialism - sensory loss services for Birmingham City Council
For the attention of all care providers
The Council’s Cabinet have now approved the Commissioning Strategy 2023 for Care Homes (with and without nursing), Supported Living and Home Support Sensory Loss. A copy of the final Commissioning Strategy and the full report can be found here:
The current Care Homes 2018 and Supported Living 2018 contracts are therefore due to end on 30 April 2023. The tender for the replacement contracts Care Homes 2023, Supported Living Services 2023 and Home Support Sensory Loss 2023 are due to start soon.
We are therefore writing to all existing contracted providers to update on the anticipated tender timescales. At present, the tender is likely to launch on Tuesday 3rd January 2023 at 12 noon. Should there be any changes to this timescale, further communication will be issued to assist providers. However, providers should be aware that the legal tender notices will be published via the following links:
Contracts Finder - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The anticipated start date for the new contracts is 3 April 2023. While the current 2018 contracts still remain open for applications, please consider applying to join the 2023 contracts only. N.B. providers successful in joining the 2018 contracts between now and 30 April 2023 will still need to apply for the 2023 contracts to continue to do business with the Council after 30 April 2023. Applications for the 2023 contracts will be prioritised for review over the 2018 applications.
In preparation for the tender a number of system changes have been made to the CareMatch Portal and there are a number of important messages below for:
- Providers with an on-hold 2018 application due to not having a CQC rating
- Providers with an on-hold 2018 application due to not having ‘Supported Living’ as a ‘Type of Service’ on their CQC registration
- Providers with both an on-hold 2018 application for not having a CQC rating and not having ‘Supported Living’ as a ‘Type of Service’ on their CQC registration
It is important that if you are contacted by the Council, you take the described actions. Unfortunately, any failure to complete these tasks may impact your ability to start your new 2023 tender application.
For providers of Care Homes, Supported Living and Home Support Sebsory Loss with a 2018 application on hold due to not having a CQC rating
If you previously applied to Birmingham City Council, via CareMatch Portal, for a Supported Living 2018 contract, and your application was placed on hold, pending a site visit/CQC rating, as you did not have a quality rating from CQC, please ensure you read and action the below.
Whilst your 2018 application is on hold, you will not be able to apply for any new 2023 contracts.
All routine/planned Quality Monitoring Visits have been suspended with immediate effect due to the tendering of the new contracts; no routine visits will take place prior to and during the tender period which is anticipated to be 6-8 weeks. Whilst your 2018 application is on hold, you will not be able to apply for a 2023 contract and therefore to enable you to apply for the new contract we need to reject your 2018 application. You will receive a system generated unsuccessful letter from the CareMatch Portal for your 2018 application which will not state the reason for your application being unsuccessful, however it is due to not having a quality rating.
Providers without a CQC quality rating are able to apply for the 2023 contracts when the tender period is open (please see above for anticipated date). The tender documentation will explain how this process will work in more detail, but you will receive a Quality Monitoring Visit to allow your application to proceed.
The expected start date of the 2023 contracts is 3 April 2023. After this date, the Care Homes (with and without nursing) and Supported Living tender will reopen. Please note the Home Support Sensory Loss is a framework contract and will not reopen after the contract award.
Please ensure you regularly check the communication bulletins in order to ensure you are aware of any updates or important information.
For providers of Supported Living with a 2018 application on hold due to not having the service type 'Supported Living' on your CQC registration
If you previously applied to Birmingham City Council, via CareMatch Portal, for a Supported Living 2018 contract, and your application was placed on hold because your CQC registration does not record ‘supported Living’ as a ‘Type of Service’ that you are registered to deliver. You may have asked CQC to add this to your registration, but our most recent check showed that this has not happened yet.
The Supported Living 2018 contract comes to an end in April 2023 and we are about to invite care providers to apply for its replacement; the Supported Living 2023 contract.
Whilst your 2018 Supported Living application is on hold you will not be able to apply for the 2023 contract. To enable you to apply for the new contract we need to reject your 2018 application. You will receive a system generated unsuccessful letter from the CareMatch Portal which will not state the reason for your application being unsuccessful, however it is due to not having ‘Supported Living’ as a ‘Type of Service’ on your CQC registration.
If you are unable to get the ‘Supported Living’ ‘Type of Service’ added to your CQC registration prior to the closing date of the initial tender, then please be aware that you will get an opportunity to join the 2023 Supported Living contract after April 2023 when the tender reopens. The expected start date of the 2023 contracts is 3 April 2023.
The Home Support Sensory Loss is a framework contract and will not reopen after the contract award.
Please ensure you regularly check the communication bulletins in order to ensure you are aware of any updates or important information.
Please be aware your 2018 application may be on hold due to both not having a CQC rating and not having ‘Supported Living’ as a ‘Type of Service’ on your CQC registration, in which case, both messages above apply.