Community Equipment Service 2025 - RBo Kensington & Chelsea

The Council has a statutory duty under the Care Act 2014 to provide community equipment services. It has been identified that there is a need for urgent action to be taken to ensure the needs of vulnerable residents can be met and the Council fulfils its statutory duties. The Council has identified a provider to supply essential community equipment and to support the delivery of the equipment and repair, installation and servicing services to service users and peripheral stores. This is a demand based service. The expected value is based on the anticipated demand and the cost of equipment/services delivered by the provider. Direct award justification - Extreme and unavoidable urgency: The urgent action required is to ensure the needs of vulnerable residents can be met and the Council fulfils statutory requirements. The Council is required to maintain access to the Services for all eligible residents and there is a legal duty under the Care Act 2014 for the Services to be delivered. Officers have identified the need for urgent action to be taken to maintain the delivery of the Service and to ensure that vulnerable residents can continue to access the required provision. The Council is intending to directly award a contract to the identified supplier under Section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023. In relation to the urgency justification under Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023, this justification applies for the following reasons: • The goods and services to be supplied under the proposed contract are strictly necessary to ensure the Council complies with its statutory duties. • The situation has arisen due to unforeseeable events outside of the Council's control. In the circumstances the Council must act urgently and there is not sufficient time to carry out a competitive tendering procedure. • The urgency is unavoidable and was not attributable to any act or omission of the council. The need to ensure continuity of services to vulnerable service users provides grounds to rely on this justification and direct award a contract to the identified supplier. The council will not utilise a 'standstill period' of eight working days due to the timing of requirements.