---
title: "Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Assessment Service - Contract Extension - Lot 4"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-03a180"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-03a180"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03a180.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03a180.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS ACTING FOR AN ON BEHALF OF THE DEPARTMENT FOR COMMUNITIES (DFC) FORMERLY THE DEPARTMENT FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT (DSD) IN NORTHERN IRELAND"
published: "2023-01-31"
---

# Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Assessment Service - Contract Extension - Lot 4

Buyer: DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS ACTING FOR AN ON BEHALF OF THE DEPARTMENT FOR COMMUNITIES (DFC) FORMERLY THE DEPARTMENT FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT (DSD) IN NORTHERN IRELAND  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-03a180

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## Summary

The Department for Work and Pensions acting on behalf of the Department for Communities (DfC) has awarded a contract extension for the 'Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Assessment Service - Lot 4' in the health and social work services category. The contract extension, signed on 20th November 2012, is valued at £11,948,036 GBP and extends the service provision until 1st March 2024.

This procurement opportunity offers business growth potential for companies in the health and social work services sector. The procurement method used was an award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition, and the tender stage has been completed. Businesses specialising in health services and assessments would be well-suited to compete for providing key services, including objective assessments and expert advice, to support the Department's decision-making processes in determining entitlement to Personal Independence Payment.

## Notice

DfC shall enter into a Contract Variation of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment services Lot 4 Contract with the incumbent supplier following a period of 10 days from the date of publication of this notice. The Contract Variation provides for an extension of seven (7) months from 01.08.2023 to 01.03.2024.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

-- The objective and independent assessment of the impact of health conditions and disabilities on claimants is central to the process of determining entitlement to PIP. The provider will carry out this assessment and provide information and advice to support the Authority's decision making processes. -- The key elements of the service will include: -- The consideration of a claimant's health conditions or disabilities and the impact on their daily life and mobility, -- Assessing individuals against criteria prescribed by the Authority, -- The delivery of Consultations to support the above, -- The gathering and consideration of evidence to support the above including, where necessary, paying appropriate fees for evidence, -- The completion of reports, including advice, to the Authority, -- The referral of assessment reports and any associated evidence to the Authority, -- Interpretation and advice to the authority on technical evidence, -- Follow up liaison with the Authority in relation to assessments, including the provision of relevant health professional expertise as required, -- The administration and management of the service, including scheduling of Consultations, ensuring that they are completed within timescales set down by the Authority, -- The recruitment, training and ongoing support of Health Professionals, including liaison with relevant professional bodies, -- The development of guidance and training in conjunction with the Authority, -- The provision of an enquiry service for individuals being assessed, -- The provision of a quality control regime, including a complaints function, -- The provision of management information as defined by the Authority, -- Initiatives and liaison with relevant organisations to support the provision of evidence, -- Liaison and collaborative working with local and national partners, including disability organisations, health professional bodies and the devolved administrations, -- Liaison and collaborative working with the PIP Assessment Providers for other Lots as required, -- Support for Test and Learn Activity.

### Procurement Information

On 5 March 2020, DWP published a Prior Information Notice 2020/S 046-109668 as notification of its intent to re-procure the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Contracts for assessment services in GB and NI in accordance with Section 7, PCR as part of a larger procurement for other types of assessment services (FAS procurement). Due to the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic the new procurement was delayed and as a result the PIP Contract in NI was extended for the reasons set out in Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice 2020/S 135-333753. The FAS procurement was launched on 12 November 2021 and, although a light touch regime procurement, was based on a competitive dialogue procedure, the commencement of which included the submission of indicative bids. During dialogue it became apparent that the contract value envelope for the FAS procurement needed to be revised in order to provide these key public services effectively. The procurement was therefore halted temporarily with a view to re-engaging with stakeholders . It had also become clear that the ratio of face to face assessments versus remote assessments needed to be reviewed given the continuation of the Pandemic and further time was spent ensuring the contractual arrangements had built-in flexibility to deal with changing circumstances and impact the above changes. DWP and DfC also considered that a further round of commercial dialogue (not originally planned) was necessary to ensure the quality of BAFO submissions in the face of the revised contractual framework. Due to these various activity streams, it was therefore impossible for DWP and DfC to avoid a negative impact on its original procurement timetable. The procurement is now well underway. DWP do not envisage there will be cause for further delay. However, due to the additional activities and subsequent delay (see above) in order to ensure an efficient and smooth handover between the PIP and the new FAS providers during an appropriate implementation period, DfC consider an extension of 7 months to the existing PIP contract term is necessary. Without an extension there could be a delay to provision of assessments for the critical statutory welfare benefit which PIP services encompass. As the recipients of PIP constitute a vulnerable section of society, DfC are of the view such an extension is necessary to ensure they are not disadvantaged further. DfC considers Regulation 72(1)(b) PCR is applicable. For the reasons set out above, the provision of additional services until 1 March 2024 has become necessary and: (i) interchangeability issues with a new supplier means these key services could be negatively impacted for economic and technical reasons. The implementation of the contract currently being procured necessitates a lengthy handover period therefore it is not possible to introduce a new provider for the additional 7 months. A change in supplier without a full handover programme (which includes transition to a new managed IT service necessitating dual running of systems) would risk delivery of these services which provide critical statutory benefits to vulnerable people; (ii) appointing a new supplier to cover the extra 7 months (which DWP do not consider a viable option) at the same time as the incumbent was engaged in handover to the new FAS supplier means significant duplication of costs particularly as DWP would be paying additional costs already during the implementation period; (iii) value of the contract for the extended period does not exceed 50% of value of original contract; and (iv) DfC will publish a modification notice pursuant to Regulation 72(3) of PCR.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/002948-2023 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 31 Jan 2023 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 20 Nov 2012 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £11,948,036 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Not specified |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS ACTING FOR AN ON BEHALF OF THE DEPARTMENT FOR COMMUNITIES (DFC) FORMERLY THE DEPARTMENT FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT (DSD) IN NORTHERN IRELAND |
| Locality | SHEFFIELD |
| Post town | Sheffield |
| Postcode | S1 2FD |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLE Yorkshire and The Humber |
| ITL 2 | TLE3 South Yorkshire |
| ITL 3 | TLE32 Sheffield |
| Local authority | Sheffield |
| Electoral ward | City |
| Westminster constituency | Sheffield Central |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | CAPITA BUSINESS SERVICES |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 85 - Health and social work services

### Codes

- 85000000 - Health and social work services

## Release History

- 31 Jan 2023 at 14:43 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/002948-2023

## Notice URLs

- https://dwp.bravosolution.co.uk
- https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions

## 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-h6vhtk-03a180. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03a180.json.