How to call off services
How to call off services
The framework agreement is for the services of supplying non-medical, non-clinical temporary, interim, contract and fixed-term staff. You can award for a defined period of time (for a year, say), providing the contracted period does not over-run the framework agreement by more than three months.
For most customer organisations it is sensible to consider awarding a call-off of services for a period of time – probably for a defined group of job segments. This enables you and the supplier to agree and implement a Service Level Agreement (SLA) which confirms how the two organisations can most effectively and economically work together, possibly including implementation of electronic systems.
Basic requirements
It is important to ensure that the call-off of service you make from the framework agreement is decided in a fair and transparent way and does not distort competition. These are basic requirements of the Public Contract Regulations 2006 and will be reflected in your own organisation’s procurement policies.
The SLA is flexible to suit varying circumstances but please note that only certain aspects of the service can be refined, in line with the Conditions of Contract, for example in induction processes, customer policy requirements, ordering and invoicing processes and so on. In short, it may be helpful to think of the award as being the commitment to an SLA for a defined period with suppliers for the supply of work-seekers in certain job segments.
Award by direct call-off
You can award call-off of services directly where the terms (meaning the information on award of call-off contained in this framework agreement and the call-off terms and conditions) are sufficiently precise and complete to identify the most economically advantageous offer. This will be the case where the Commercial and Technical Specifications and all the other contract documents define the services, the supply of services and the application of the prices with sufficient precision and completeness. There is no need to exchange documentation relating to conditions, specifications and price – all is as per the website information provided.
PLEASE NOTE: The Award Support Tool (Visit Suppliers – prices and details) will complete the following steps for you
To award by direct call-off you could:
- Decide whether and how to group job segments for the purposes of making your award(s) of call-off.
- Identify suppliers. You may wish to use the information about the job segments and regions supplied by suppliers between 1 January and 30 June 2009 (plus any subsequent updates agreed with Government Procurement Service). Note that other suppliers, who have not notified Government Procurement Service of current supply, may be able to supply in the job segment and region in which you are interested. Throughout the life of the framework agreement suppliers are able to ask Government Procurement Service to consider additions to their supply capabilities (in new regions and/or job segments), based on evidence of supply capability. Depending on the job segments you are considering, you may want to consider the proximity of suppliers’ branches. This will normally be somewhat less significant for higher Pay Bands.
- Visit Suppliers – prices and details where there is a range of information and tools to support you in awarding call-off.
- Evaluate the ITT data against each of the award criteria laid out in the tables for each suitable supplier, using an evaluation plan and the weighting (totalling 100%) that best reflects your organisation’s circumstances and requirements, within the range limits shown in the tables above. We would expect the weightings to be consistent across job segment groups.
- Award to the supplier with the most economically advantageous offer, represented by the highest score.
- Go in turn to each of the next highest scoring suppliers until the requirement is met if the supplier awarded the call-off of service is unable on occasion to supply suitable work-seekers.
In the award of call-off of services, decisions about which suitable suppliers have the most economically advantageous offers need to be based on the criteria Government Procurement Service used in awarding the tender.
- These are the award criteria for Employment Agencies (where you wish to employ a Work-Seeker)
- These are the award criteria for Employment Businesses (where you wish to hire a Work-Seeker, not to employ them)
Award of call-off by Further Competition
You only need to conduct a Further Competition where the collection of terms laid down in the framework agreement is not sufficiently precise or complete to cover the service requirements and such were not capable of being laid down at the time the framework agreement was concluded. This will be the case where the Commercial and Technical Specifications and all the other contract documents do not define the services, the supply of services and the application of the prices with sufficient precision and completeness to meet the requirements of the particular Supply Contract.
The basic terms cannot be renegotiated nor can the Specification be substantively changed. Basic terms can be refined or supplemented where the particular service requirements were not and could not be foreseen when the framework agreement was established.
To award call-off by Further Competition you could:
- Decide whether and how to group job segments for the purposes of making your award(s) of call-off.
- Identify which suppliers are capable of meeting the requirements of the particular Supply Contract. Unless it is clear how to objectively determine which suppliers are capable of meeting the requirements of the particular Supply Contract, then you must invite all suppliers to participate in the Further Competition.
- Issue written/electronic tender documentation (highlighted areas of permissible difference from the standard documentation) to all capable suppliers, with a reasonable time limit for return of tenders. You can modify award criteria, providing they derive from the original award criteria and the capable suppliers are notified of this in writing. Award criteria that are completely new cannot be introduced in a Further Competition.
- Evaluate the returned tenders against the award criteria laid out in the tables above, using an evaluation plan and the weighting (totalling 100%) that best reflects your organisation’s circumstances and requirements, within the range limits shown in the tables above.
- Award to the supplier with the most economically advantageous offer, represented by the highest score.
- Go in turn to each of the next highest scoring suppliers until the requirement is met if the supplier awarded the call-off of service is unable on occasion to supply suitable work-seekers.
Each assignment within the period for the services
We have introduced a relatively simple form to support the effective communication of each assignment by customers, called the Temporary Staff Request Form. If an assignment needs a candidate who is to be employed on a fixed-term contract then the form can be adapted and used as an amended template.
Importantly, the form enables you to capture from the supplier details of the match they have achieved with the proposed candidate.