Resources for Commissioners and Procurers
The Government's drive to increase the voluntary sector's provision of public services has brought with it a range of tools for commissioners and procurers in the public sector. Here you can find a regularly updated selection of some of the key resources for public sector professionals in the North East and their voluntary and community partners. And remember - if you're a local officer looking to find out more about the types of voluntary and community sector providers in your patch, your local council for voluntary service (CVS) can help.
Commissioning and the Compact: Beginners' Guides
Many procuring and commissioning officers worry that the Compact, governing relationships with between the voluntary sector and statutory bodies, and EU procurement law are in conflict. Helpfully the Commission for the Compact, in partnership Bates, Wells and Braithwaite Solicitors, has published a guide to Frequently Asked Questions about the compatibility of the two to help put minds at ease. The guide is intended to help commissioners to procure in ways that follow both these sets of rules and principles, by answering questions like 'What's the difference between a grant and a contract?'. The guide complements the Compact's Commissioning Guidance which was published in February 2009 and which public sector officers might also find useful. The two documents can be downloaded at the links below.
The Compact and Procurement Law: A Guide to Frequently Asked Questions
The Compact Commissioning Guidance
National Audit Office's Decision Support Tool for financial relationships with third sector organisations
The Decision Support Tool (DST) has been developed by the National Audit Office. It's designed for people working in the public sector who are responsible for financial relationships with third sector organisations. The DST is a web-based tool which provides practical support for real-life decisions about the design of appropriate funding models. The complete toolkit is available to download at Financial relationships with third sector organisations (324 Kb). More detailed guidance on the practices of intelligent monitoring, building on references in the DST is available at this link.
Commissioning from the VCS: Step by step
NCVO, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, has developed this extensive guide to help commissioners harness best practice and innovation from the VCS throughout the commissioning process.
Commissioning from the VCS: Step by Step
NCVO also runs the national Public Service Delivery Network which brings together voluntary and community organisations and statutory sector bodies to develop tools and spaces for the improvement of procurement and commissioning relationships between the two sectors. More information on this Network can be found here.
PQASSO for Procurers
PQASSO is the ‘Practical Quality Assurance System for Small Organisations'. It is the most widely used quality assurance system in the UK voluntary and community Sector and published by Charities Evaluation Services. This guide provides some basic information about PQASSO, and its independently verified kite mark, the PQASSO Quality Mark. It's a good starting point for funders and commissioners wanting to find out more about quality standards in the voluntary sector, as well as the PQASSO standard specifically.
PQASSO: A Brief Guide for Funders and Commissioners
Procurers interested at looking in more depth at some of the issues faced by the sector around quality assurance and ISO accreditations may be interested in this short article produced by NAVCA which gives a good overview of the area.
Camden Councils' Sustainable Commissioning Model
The London Borough of Camden's Sustainable Commissioning model aims to help public sector organisations achieve their sustainable procurement objectives. It should also help local authorities and local authority partnerships lever their spending towards achieving the new set of 198 national indicators, in particular those focussed on stronger communities, the local economy and environmental sustainability.
Sustainable Commissioning Model (Word 177kB) (August 2008)
Equality and Diversity
With the new Equality Bill in the process of becoming legislation, the voluntary and community and public sectors are preparing for changes to procurement and commissioning practices it will legislate for. IDeA - the improvement agency for local government - hosts a wide range of resources on equality issues and procurement. Of particular interest to commissioners and procurers will be its section on supplier diversity, which includes information about diversity policies to support a wide range of suppliers competing for public sector contracts.
IDeA's Equality Guidance on Procurement
IDeA Suitcase Studies: Lessons in good procurement
IDeA has produced a useful 'suitcase studies' collection, based on the good procurement practice that it's procurement team has found during its work with councils. Haringey Council's use of community benefit clauses and other tools to support the development of local small and medium enterprises (SME), in particular the black and minority ethnic (BME) SME suppliers is a highlight.
To encourage other to learn from the experiences within the suitcase, the contact details of those responsible for the good practice have been provided and they're only too happy to provide further background.
Area Specific Resources
Children and Young People
This page signposts people working in children's services commissioning to a wide range of resources to support effective development and delivery of services.
Health and Social Care
The Department of Health, in partnership with carers' organisations and health and local government agencies, has recently produced two new documents for better commissioning for carers. Its Action Guide in particular puts forward recommendations for including carers in all commissioning and area needs assessments and for improving outcomes, independence and choices for both carers and those they care for. To find out more visit this link.
Staff Contact
Carrie Brookes
Communications Manager
email: carrie.brookes@vonne.org.uk
Pages in this section
Resources for Voluntary Providers
Resources for Commissioners and Procurers
Office of the Third Sector: 8 Intelligent Commissioning Principles
- Develop an understanding of the needs of users and communities, by ensuring that, alongside other consultees, they engage with third sector organisations as advocates, to access their specialist knowledge.
- Consult potential provider organisations, including those from the third sector and local experts, well in advance of commissioning new services, working with them to set priority outcomes for that service.
- Put outcomes for users at the heart of the strategic planning process.
- Map the fullest practicable range of providers with a view to understanding the contribution they could make to delivering those outcomes.
- Consider investing in the capacity of the provider base, particularly those working with hard-to-reach groups.
- Ensure contracting processes are transparent and fair; facilitating the involvement of the broadest range of suppliers, including considering sub-contracting and consortia building where appropriate.
- Seek to ensure long-term contracts and risk sharing wherever appropriate as ways of achieving efficiency and effectiveness.
- Seek feedback from service users, communities and providers in order to review the effectiveness of the commissioning process in meeting local needs.