Community Benefits Policy

Transcription

1 Community Benefits Policy Last Modified December 2017 Review Date October 2019 Contents 1. Introduction Policy Statement Policy Drivers Inclusion of Community Benefits Community Benefits Policy Delivery Community Benefits Monitoring and Reporting... 5 Page 1 of 5

2 1. Introduction NHS Tayside is committed to maximising Community Benefits from its procurement activities. This will be achieved through the inclusion of specific clauses within procurement contracts known as Community Benefit Clauses. Community Benefit Clauses are contractual requirements which deliver wider benefits in addition to the core purpose of the contract. These clauses can be used to build a range of economic, social or environmental conditions into the delivery of contracts. Such social, economic and environmental benefits are hereinafter referred to as "Community Benefits". This Policy applies to all areas of NHS Tayside s Procurement activity including; ehealth Property Pharmacy Central Procurement 2. Policy Statement NHS Tayside will ensure that Community Benefits are considered and included in all relevant contracts including works, goods & services contracts. The Community Benefits Policy will seek to: Support delivery of key NHS priorities: o the creation of apprenticeships, training and work experience for younger people and the long term unemployed. o Increasing supply chain opportunities for both SME s o Increasing supply chain opportunities for social enterprises, supported businesses and Third Sector Organisations. Increase the Community Benefits outcomes generated through the inclusion of Community Benefits clauses within services and goods contracts Consider the inclusion of Community Benefits in all relevant procurement activities and maximise outcomes through the use of Voluntary Community Benefits Expand the types of Community Benefits outcomes generated Maximise the promotion of Community Benefits outcomes Monitor and report the impact of Community Benefits activity These aims will be supported by the use of Community Benefits in procurement activity as noted below: Page 2 of 5

3 1. Community Benefits will be considered and included in all relevant and appropriate procurement activities with an aggregated threshold value in excess of 50, There is no legal requirement for the consideration of Community Benefits in contracts with an estimated aggregate purchase value of less than 50,000. However non- evaluated Community Benefits may still be sought where Procurement Professionals are satisfied that the requirement to achieve Best Value can still be met. 3. Policy Drivers The aims of the Community Benefits Policy are aligned to and support the recent changes in procurement legislation, regulation s and statutory requirements both at a national and local level, including: Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 Sustainable Procurement Duty Scottish Government Sustainable Procurement Action Plan NHS Tayside Procurement Strategy NHS Tayside Health Inequalities Strategy 4. Inclusion of Community Benefits Whenever appropriate, NHS Tayside will utilise evaluation-based Community Benefits Proposals as part of contract award. Community Benefits can be incorporated in procurement activity in the following ways: Core The Core approach where the community benefits being sought must relate to the subject matter of the contract and must be included and scored as part of the evaluation procedure and subsequently included in the contract. Non-Core The Non-Core approach where bidders are asked to provide details of the community benefits they would deliver through the contract (which NHS Tayside may have specified or may be suggested by the contractor); these benefits can be evaluated as pass/fail criterion at the award stage. These Non-Core benefits should still be included as contractual requirements and their delivery monitored as part of the normal contract management process. Page 3 of 5

4 Voluntary NHS Tayside may seek to encourage Voluntary Community Benefits for a particular procurement activity. This will not form part of the evaluation, or indeed place a contractual obligation on the supplier; however those which are offered and accepted by NHS Tayside will be reported in the Corporate Procurement Annual Report. Delivery of Voluntary Community Benefits will be monitored through management information provided by the supplier. 5. Community Benefits Policy Delivery The Finance Directorate is accountable for delivery of the Community Benefits Policy. To support delivery of the policy a collaborative, cross -organisational, approach is required which will be managed and coordinated by the Tayside Sustainability Delivery Group (TSDG). The TSDG will be chaired by Director of Facilities, and will include key stakeholders and strategic leads from: Procurement Facilities ehealth New Works Public Health The role of the TSDG will be to: Lead on the identification and prioritisation of potential community benefits opportunities through regular reviews of the Two Year Work Plan. Provide feedback to commodity owners to support informed discussions with service departments in order to improve the quality and quantity of community benefits sought in procurement processes. Review community benefits outcomes achieved by collating outcomes reported through contract monitoring procedures. Develop the community benefits approach through a lessons learned review process. Cascade information and ensure learning is shared and implemented in future contracts. Escalate issues to relevant groups as appropriate to the type of contract. As the Strategic Lead for Community Benefits across NHS Procurement will undertake a number of functions including: Tayside, Page 4 of 5

5 Supporting the on-going development of the policy and its implementation Engaging with Service departments to identify and agree Community Benefits outcomes Engaging with the supply base to encourage and influence innovative Community Benefits opportunities Supporting Community Benefits tender evaluation Supporting contract management activities Reporting Community Benefits to internal and external stakeholders. 6. Community Benefits Monitoring and Reporting Robust arrangements must be in place in order to monitor the Community Benefits contained in a contract. The following monitoring information will be requested and included in the contract documentation: a single point of contact within the contracting organisation who will be responsible for ensuring the delivery of the Community Benefit proposal; a clear statement of the actual outputs to be monitored, including where possible quantitative KPIs; the frequency of monitoring information arrangements; the format of monitoring information arrangements; a means of verifying the monitoring information. Technical expertise may be sought, both within and external to the organisation, to support monitoring and implementation. For example, contacting a Local Authority Regeneration service for support in monitoring recruitment and training Community Benefits. Community Benefits will be managed and monitored by Procurement in the form of a Community Benefits Tracker. This Community Benefits data will be one source for reporting Community Benefits to the TSDG, and for other reporting requirements which may arise. The approach to monitoring Community Benefits will be no less rigorous than that applied to other core elements of the contract. Robust contract monitoring arrangements will enable NHS Tayside to track progress and check whether the contractor has fulfilled their Community Benef it obligations, and that performance is delivered in line with the original evaluation process. Page 5 of 5