Independent Information, Advice and Advocacy Service to Support Independent Living

The Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) wish to inform the market that they are planning to procure the provision of Independent Information, Advice and Advocacy Service to Support Independent Living. This service will: • Provide independent Information, Advice, and Advocacy to Service Users and Carers in Northern Ireland regarding managing finance and organising support services in relation to Self Directed Support (SDS) and the Independent Living Fund (ILF); • Provide independent Information and Advice to Service Users and Carers to help them understand their role as an employer; • Provide independent Information, training and awareness sessions to Health and Social Care Trust (HSCT) staff and students and other relevant networks and organisations engaging with individuals with an interest in Self Directed Support (SDS) and the Independent Living Fund (ILF); • Take an active role in the promotion of SDS and policy development related to independent living; • Liaise with HSCTs to explore the range of options available to Service Users and Carers in relation to SDS; and • Facilitate access to a range of accredited insurance and Payroll Services that can be engaged by Service Users and Carers. ‘Facilitate access’ in this case means to signpost or refer Service Users and Carers to such a Payroll Service on a neutral and non-biased basis. The purpose of this market engagement is to raise awareness of an upcoming procurement and gauge the level of interest in the provision of such services in advance of any formal tender process. To make an expression of interest please email PaLSSocialcare.Sourcing@hscni.net providing the following information by 23rd September 2021: — organisation name; — brief description of services you provide; and — web address if applicable. Full tender details will be included in the suite of tender documents which will be available for download when the tender is advertised. This Prior Information Notice (PIN) has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) and the Find a Tender Service (FTS) via the Procurement and Logistics Service (PaLS) eTendersNI procurement portal: https://eTendersni.gov.uk/. Any tender opportunity will also be advertised using this same procurement portal - eTendersNI. Tenderers must be registered on eTendersNI and have selected the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) Code 85000000 (Health and social work services). The tender is likely to be advertised in the coming month(s). It is your responsibility to find this or any tender opportunity when it is advertised, please check the portal regularly for tender opportunities. Note: This is not a call for tender. Market engagement is for information purposes only. Any interest shown does not constitute a commitment to participate in a procurement exercise. Failure to show interest does not restrict providers from participating in any procurement exercise. There is no guarantee a procurement process will run. Note: The Public Contract Regulations (PCR 2015) have changed the way HSC are required to procure social and other specific services ‘to the person’ with the introduction of the light touch regime (LTR) — (Regulation 74– 77 applies).