Subject: Councils and equitable processes

Please can you advise us? If a council commissions and provides social care services (part b services) and has a process of putting each individual care package out to tender through the use of a procurement portal, is it obliged to ensure that its own in-house providers are registered on the system and put on a level playing field with other providers?

Standard practice in LA's ..Each time a care package is needed, a social worker will complete an assessment of needs, identify key criteria and the outcomes required. This becomes the specification for services. This spec is sent to in-house care providers only and there is currently alot of controversy regarding whether or not appropriate packages are actually arranged with in-house providers. Often inferior packages are arranged as they are perceived to be cheaper (they may be in the short term but cost alot more in the long term when outcomes are not delivered).

If its determined that a LA cannot provide a service, the spec is placed on a procurement portal and external providers are invited to tender. Then there is an option appraisal and the most suitable package is chosen.

My questions is ... If councils are obliged to adhere to the EU procurement principle of equal treatment, can they lawfully give their in-house services an unfair advantage by enabling them to see a referral and secure business before it has the option of going out to the independent sector? This seems a bit of a conflict of interest to us as the decision makers are often the same people who are responsible for the viability of in-house provision (and it has been argued that this practice means they are able to protect their own jobs).

However, there has been some mention that councils can do this as they are outsourcing and different rules apply (?)

Its becoming an increasingly controversial area in social care and we would really welcome the view of a qualified and experienced procurement expert.