Functional Assessment Services FAS 2023

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Authority, is issuing this Notice as a formal intent of its wish to appoint supply partners with the prerequisite expertise, resources and capacity to deliver DWP claimant Functional Assessment Services (FAS). The service provision will be primarily contracted through this procurement to the Authority but may allow other Government Departments and their Agencies, Non-Departmental Public Bodies, and devolved administrations (including but not limited to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, Ministry of Defence, Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service, National Health and Social Care) to access the services.
This procurement will be undertaken using the Light Touch Regime and a modified process with commercial dialogue in accordance with Regulations 74 to 76 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The procedure the Authority intends to follow is set out clearly in the associated procurement documents.
The service will be divided into five (5) geographical lots (indicative lot volume and values parameters can be found in the associated procurement documents):

Lot 1 – Northern England and Scotland
Lot 2 – Midlands and Wales
Lot 3 – South West England
Lot 4 – London, South East & East Anglia
Lot 5- Northern Ireland (For Lot 5, the Authority shall be DWP acting for and on behalf of the Department for Communities (DfC) in Northern Ireland. The DfC will assume responsibility for managing the service in Northern Ireland.)

The Authority intends to use the lot approach in its aim to deliver a fair procurement that attracts participation from the widest possible spectrum of appropriately qualified and experienced bidders. The procurement process will require Bidders to indicate their lots of interest prior to indicative bid. Initial interest will be subject to confirmation of lot interest during latter stages of the bidding process (Best and Final Offer).

The Authority reserves the right to limit the award of FAS contract lots to any one organisation, or limit the percentage of delivery that one organisation can be awarded as a Prime and or a subcontractor across lots 1 to 4, through the application of a Market Share Limiter. This is to support the key principle of developing and maintaining a diverse supply base that supports in-life contingency for a critical service. The Authority will not accept bids that are conditional on the award of multiple lots where such would be detrimental to the division of lot awards according to the Financial Viability Risk Assessment (FVRA) formula and/or principles that will be applied to the Market Share Limiter.

The selected supplier(s) will have access to a 10 month implementation phase, followed by service delivery expected to commence on 1 August 2023.