Contract notice
Section I: Contracting
authority
I.1) Name and addresses
West Lothian Council
West Lothian Civic Centre, Howden South Road
Livingston
EH54 6FF
UK
Telephone: +44 1506281814
E-mail: hayleigh.valentine@westlothian.gov.uk
Fax: +44 1506281325
NUTS: UKM78
Internet address(es)
Main address: https://www.westlothian.gov.uk/
Address of the buyer profile: https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/Search_AuthProfile.aspx?ID=AA00140
I.2) Joint procurement
The contract is awarded by a central purchasing body
I.3) Communication
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge at:
https://www.publictendersscotland.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/
Additional information can be obtained from the abovementioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be sent electronically to:
https://www.publictendersscotland.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Regional or local authority
I.5) Main activity
General public services
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
Information and Advice for Unpaid Carers and People with Disabilities
Reference number: CC14422
II.1.2) Main CPV code
98000000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
There is a statutory requirement under Section 34 of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 (the Act), for local authorities to establish and maintain, or ensure the establishment and maintenance of an information and advice service for relevant Carers. A new contract is required to ensure that an information advice and support service is provided to all unpaid careers and people with disabilities. The service will be provided to all residents of West Lothian who are carers or have disabilities. The service can be accessed on direct access basis or via referral from Social Work or other third sector organisations.
II.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT:
2 200 000.00
GBP
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
98000000
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKM78
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
There is a statutory requirement under Section 34 of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 (the Act), for local authorities to establish and maintain, or ensure the establishment and maintenance of an information and advice service for relevant Carers. A new contract is required to ensure that an information advice and support service is provided to all unpaid careers and people with disabilities. The service will be provided to all residents of West Lothian who are carers or have disabilities. The service can be accessed on direct access basis or via referral from Social Work or other third sector organisations.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Price is not the only award criterion and all criteria are stated only in the procurement documents
II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 36
This contract is subject to renewal: Yes
Description of renewals:
Contract may be extended by up to a further 24 months in total.
II.2.9) Information about the limits on the number of candidates to be invited
II.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted:
No
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
No
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
II.2.14) Additional information
Providers must score 60% or above of the total quality score available in order to pass the technical questionnaire section.
Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information
III.1) Conditions for participation
III.1.1) Suitability to pursue the professional activity, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers
List and brief description of conditions:
N/A
III.1.2) Economic and financial standing
List and brief description of selection criteria:
RE ESPD Q4B.6; West Lothian Council will use Dun and Bradstreet DBAi financial reporting system to assess the financial stability of tenderers. Tenderers with a Failure Score of 50 or above on the DBAi system will be deemed to have evidence satisfactory financial stability. Please note that 49 or less will not be considered as having met this criteria. If a tenderer has a Failure Score of less than 50, the tenderer may be required to submit their last three years accounts.
In the event that the tenderer is not required to publish accounts and therefore does not have a Dun & Bradstreet or equivalent rating, tenderers should be able to provide financial accounts when requested. The council will then conduct an analysis of the accounts to ensure that there is no significant financial risk. Please note that if you intend on attaching 2 years accounts, these must include financial data over a 3-year period.
It is recommended that candidates review their own Dun & Bradstreet Score in advance of submitting their tender. If following this review tenderers consider that the Dun & Bradstreet Score does not reflect their current financial status, details of this should be provided, complete with evidence of a good high street credit rating (the equivalent of Dun & Bradstreet score 50) from a recognised credit referencing agency. The council will review any such information as part of the evaluation of Tenderer’s financial status.
In the event that a firm does not meet the financial criteria for consideration but has a parent company that does, the firm may still be eligible for consideration where their Tender Submission is supported by a Parent Company Guarantee.
Re ESPD Q4B.5.1a&b; It is a requirement of this contract that bidders hold, or can commit to obtain prior to the commencement of any subsequently awarded contract, the types and levels of insurance indicated below:
Minimum level(s) of standards required:
Employers Liability 10,000,000 GBP (Ten Million)
Professional Indemnity 2,000,000 GBP (Two Million)
Public liability 5,000,000 GBP (Five Million)
III.1.3) Technical and professional ability
List and brief description of selection criteria:
RE ESPD Q4C1.2; Bidders will be required to provide an example in the last 3 years that demonstrate that they have the relevant experience to deliver the services as described in part II.2.4 of the Find a Tender Service Contract Notice or the relevant section of the Site Notice. These will be scored on a pass/fail basis.
III.2) Conditions related to the contract
III.2.2) Contract performance conditions
Bidders are required to meet and comply with the requirements of the specification. Bidders are required to hold and provide copies of an Adult Protection Policy and a Childs Protection Policy. Copies of these are requested within the Technical Envelope on PCS-Tender, failure to provide these may result in your tender being rejected.
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure
Open procedure
IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement:
Yes
IV.2) Administrative information
IV.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
Date:
01/12/2025
Local time: 12:00
IV.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted
EN
IV.2.6) Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender
Duration in months: 4 (from the date stated for receipt of tender)
IV.2.7) Conditions for opening of tenders
Date:
01/12/2025
Local time: 12:00
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.1) Information about recurrence
This is a recurrent procurement:
No
VI.2) Information about electronic workflows
Electronic ordering will be used
Electronic invoicing will be accepted
Electronic payment will be used
VI.3) Additional information
There will be no price evaluation for this tender, and bidders will not be required to complete any pricing schedule.
In accordance with Section 67 (5) of the Public Contacts (Scotland) Regulations (5) i.e. the cost element may also take the form of a fixed price or cost on the basis of which economic operators will compete on quality criteria only whereby price is fixed. Those bidders who are prepared to accept the fixed rate of GBP 440,000 per annum will be awarded 10%. Any bidder who is not prepared to accept this rate will be awarded 0%.
Police Scotland will be consulted with regards to Serious and Organised Crime checks. Any links to this type of activity may cause your tender to be rejected.
Re: ESPD Q2B, complete information for all company directors, using home address.
TUPE – The incoming Contractor is responsible for obtaining legal and professional advice about relevant TUPE implications.
CONFIDENTIALITY - All information supplied by the Authority must be treated in confidence and not disclosed to third parties except
insofar as this is necessary to obtain sureties or quotations for the purpose of submitting the tender. All information supplied by you to the
Authority will similarly be treated in confidence except:
(i) for any information required to be disclosed or otherwise provided by the Authority to any person in order to comply with the Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and any codes of practice applicable from time to time relating to access to public authorities’ information.
The Tenderer shall co-operate, facilitate, support and assist the Authority in the provision of this information. In the event the Authority is required to provide information to any person as a result of a request made to it under such Act and/or codes, the Authority shall adhere to the requirements of such Act and/or codes in disclosing information relating to this Agreement, the Project documents and the Contractor.
(ii) that references may be sought from banks, existing or past clients, or other referees submitted by the tenderers;
(iii) for the disclosure of such information with regard to the outcome of the procurement process as may be required to be published in the
Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union in accordance with EU directives or elsewhere in accordance with the requirements of UK government policy on the disclosure of information relating to government contracts.
Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.
The buyer is using PCS-Tender to conduct this ITT exercise. The Project code is 30424. For more information see: http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/info/InfoCentre.aspx?ID=2343
Community benefits are included in this requirement. For more information see: https://www.gov.scot/policies/public-sector-procurement/community-benefits-in-procurement/
A summary of the expected community benefits has been provided as follows:
Please Note: Community Benefits will be evaluated for this procurement procedure and will form 5% of the overall award criteria. More information can be found on the council’s website.
(SC Ref:814153)
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
Livingston Sheriff Court
Howden South Road
Livingston
EH54 6FF
UK
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
30/10/2025