--- title: "Advocacy 'Safety Net' Service ITT" ocid: "ocds-b5fd17-3f89ed3e-da44-46fc-ad71-cea0e6de50af" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-3f89ed3e-da44-46fc-ad71-cea0e6de50af" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-3f89ed3e-da44-46fc-ad71-cea0e6de50af.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-3f89ed3e-da44-46fc-ad71-cea0e6de50af.json" source: "Contracts Finder" current_stage: "Tender" buyer: "DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION" published: "2023-02-23" --- # Advocacy 'Safety Net' Service ITT Buyer: DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION Current stage: Tender OCID: ocds-b5fd17-3f89ed3e-da44-46fc-ad71-cea0e6de50af [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-3f89ed3e-da44-46fc-ad71-cea0e6de50af) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-3f89ed3e-da44-46fc-ad71-cea0e6de50af.json) ## Summary The Department for Education is seeking a supplier to deliver a 2-year contract, starting from 1st October 2023, for an Advocacy 'Safety Net' Helpline Service. The service aims to provide advice to looked after children and care leavers, signpost them to local advocacy support, and handle complaints. The tender deadline for submission is 12:00 noon GMT on the 23rd March 2023. The procurement falls under the industry category of Technical Support Services and Helpdesk and Support Services. The procurement method is an open procedure, and the contract value is £560,000. This tender opportunity by the Department for Education offers a chance for SMEs and voluntary, community, and social enterprise organisations to compete. Businesses providing advocacy support services, particularly those experienced in working with vulnerable children, are well-suited to bid. Engaging in this tender could lead to business growth and the expansion of services aimed at supporting looked after children and care leavers in the UK. ## Notice It is the Department for Educations intention to undertake a procurement exercise to appoint a suitably experienced organisation to deliver on behalf of the department a 2 year and 0 month contract from 1st October 2023 to 30th September 2025 to deliver an Advocacy 'Safety Net' Helpline Service offering advice to looked after children and care leavers. The National Advocacy Helpline and "safety net' service will offer advice to looked after children and care leavers. The services are intended to signpost looked after children to local advocacy support or help those who have been denied local advocacy to make representations and pursue complaints. The service will be active in referring cases back to local authorities and progressing these until satisfaction. The service will continue to encourage local authorities to provide advocacy services in line with their statutory responsibilities, only stepping in where this proves unsuccessful. It is expected the improved national advocacy 'safety net' will also improve insight and analysis about callers to the service and the issues they raise and will gather evidence about the quality and coverage of local advocacy services. The service will use clear approaches for prioritising limited resources and engage looked after children who might otherwise be difficult to reach. To view the tender, you will need to be registered as a supplier on the DfE Jaggaer eTendering portal, available at https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html The closing date for submitting your tender is 12:00 noon GMT on the 23rd March 2023. Once registered the Tender will be accessible via the 'View Opportunities' link on the Homepage. Select the Opportunity Notice for 'Advocacy Helpline and 'Safety Net' Service ITT' (ITT 2083) and this will take you directly to the tender documents. Please use the Jaggaer e-procurement system https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html to submit any questions you may have about the tendering procedure. Additional information: Scope of the Service The national advocacy helpline and 'safety net' service will address the following objectives: a) To provide a national (England) advocacy advice helpline and website to signpost children to local advocacy. b) To provide direct advocacy support where advocacy is denied locally to looked after children or care leavers as well as supporting a looked after child or care leaver to pursue a complaint, likely in partnership with an Independent Reviewing Officer (unless concerns centre on the IRO service itself). c) To collect and maintain information about the range and availability of advocacy support provided to local children and young people based on calls to the service, contact with Local Authorities and through networks. Through this knowledge, the service will be able to support swiftly and effectively looked after children to obtain advocacy. d) To raise concerns, immediately, where there is a risk to a child's safety or welfare by referring to a local authority's child protection and safeguarding teams (and the police as appropriate). e) Where there are persistent concerns about the availability or quality of local advocacy services in a particular area, Ofsted should be informed, and reports made to the Department for Education as part of regular progress and monitoring arrangements. Quarterly information around safeguarding referrals is also to be shared with Ofsted. Where a serious safeguarding incident occurs, Ofsted would need to be informed immediately. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Contracts Finder | | Latest notice | https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/abf54076-617e-49fa-8dab-e56cac22085e | | Notice type | Tender Notice | | Procurement type | Standard | | Procurement category | Services | | Procurement method | Open | | Procurement method details | Open procedure (above threshold) | | Tender suitability | SME, VCSE | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning, Tender | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 23 Feb 2023 | | Submission deadline | 23 Mar 2023 | | Future notice date | 22 Nov 2022 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | 30 Sep 2023 - 30 Sep 2025 | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | £560,000 | | Lots value | Not specified | | Awards value | Not specified | | Contracts value | Not specified | ## Status | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender status | Active | | Lots status | Not specified | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION | | Locality | LONDON | | Post town | South West London | | Postcode | SW1P 3BT | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLI London | | ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West | | ITL 3 | TLI35 Westminster and City of London | | Local authority | Westminster | | Electoral ward | St James's | | Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster | | Delivery location | TLC North East (England), TLD North West (England), TLE Yorkshire and The Humber, TLF East Midlands (England), TLG West Midlands (England), TLI London, TLJ South East (England), TLK South West (England) | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 71 - Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services - 72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support ### Codes - 71356300 - Technical support services - 72253000 - Helpdesk and support services ## Release History - 23 Feb 2023 at 15:32 - Tender - Tender Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/abf54076-617e-49fa-8dab-e56cac22085e - 4 Nov 2022 at 14:51 - Planning - Market Engagement Notice - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/962bcbf9-91e6-4def-b74e-366327f9dc09 ## Documents - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/abf54076-617e-49fa-8dab-e56cac22085e 23rd February 2023 - Opportunity notice on Contracts Finder - https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/962bcbf9-91e6-4def-b74e-366327f9dc09 4th November 2022 - Early engagement notice on Contracts Finder ## Notice URLs - http://gov.uk/dfe - https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html ## Provenance This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-b5fd17-3f89ed3e-da44-46fc-ad71-cea0e6de50af. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-b5fd17-3f89ed3e-da44-46fc-ad71-cea0e6de50af.json.