Please reply to this thread with any information you want to share following sending clarification messages to the LSC or, information you have received from other sources you think worth sharing
The LSC says it will publish those messages it has received which may have wider interest/implications in a FAQ document. However you may want to share your own in the interim, whether or not you have received an answer or not
Bear in mind, we cannot check or guarantee the veracity of any of the contributions included here or their significance to your own tender. They do not constitute legal advice in any shape or form. Any comments left here are from contributors sharing their own experiences or thoughts on the tender process. Please check with the LSC directly yourself if anything in this message thread may in any way be relevant to your bid or raise issues which may affect the manner in which you bid
Post by StephenMichael on Mar 8, 2010 11:32:10 GMT
I have just asked the LSC to amend inaccuracies contained in ITT>buyer attachments> welfare benefit superviser self declaration form v1.doc. The form refers to Employment Support Assistance (formerly Incapacity Benefit). I have pointed out to them that there is no such benefit and I think they mean a benefit called Employment and Support Allowance. I will post the reply once I receive it
We are a CAB with volunteer advisers who work at the General Help Level. I have asked this question to both ASA and to LSC concerning professional negligence these are my responses. My quastion to ASA: Going through the PQQ for our LSC tender they ask questions about professional negligence and any claims made against key personnel. A client had made a compliant about wrong WB advice given a couple of years a go when as a student she could have claimed some Council Tax Benefit. So we paid out a sum of money last year. This was part of our generalist service and the mistake was made by a volunteer adviser. Does this class as professional negligence made by key personnel. And if so – does this knock us out of the tender process?
The answer from ASA:
The relevant PQQ question asks:
Do you confirm that there have been NO claims of professional negligence made against the applicant organisation or in relation to the work of any of the Key Personnel (irrespective of what organisation they were working for) in the three-year period preceding the date of this PQQ which resulted either in a judgment against the applicant organisation or its Key Personnel or were settled out of court (or the organisation for which they were working)?
You are only required to give details of claims made in relation to any Category of Law for which public funding is available, irrespective of how the work was funded.. (my emphasis)
You are required to inform them of relevant complaints made against your organisation OR any of your key personnel. Therefore if a complaint has been made leading to you settling out of court with the client, and this complaint was in a category of law for which public funding is available, then you should answer ‘No’ to this question on the form.
This will not automatically eliminate you from the process – in the next question on the PQQ you have up to 2000 characters to explain the circumstances, giving the following relevant information:
If you have declared any claims against the applicant organisation or relating to any Key Personnel, please give the following details in relation to each claim and explain what exceptional circumstances apply which mean that the applicant organisation should be considered by us as having met this requirement (a) what the claim was (b) what steps, if any, staff in the applicant organisation have made to identify and address the wider client care issues raised by the claims and to prevent any reoccurrence.
If you have any specific queries or are unclear on any aspect of interpreting the PQQ (eg what the LSC means by You are only required to give details of claims made in relation to any Category of Law for which public funding is available, irrespective of how the work was funded) then you should take the opportunity to put questions to the LSC via the e-tendering portal.
So i asked that quastion to the LSC: You state in your PQQ regarding Professional negligence "You are only required to give details of claims made in relation to any Category of Law for which public funding is available, irrespective of how the work was funded"
If we have made a payment to a client who lost out on a welfare benefit due to a vulunteer adviser not realising they were eligible - at our Generalist Help Level NOT Specialist Level. Does this class as professional negligence made by key personnel under your definaition above?
Their answer: Hello
Thank you for your query. In the circumstances you describe, you should include as much information as possible in the additional details box(es) and we will consider these when we assess your application.
Here are two questions and answers concerning the question on professional negligence within the PQQ online response. The first was asked recently as a clarification message through the online portal following the opening of the SWL & Family Tender. The second is reproduced from the PQQ Civil and Crime FAQ
Question
I have three questions:
1. My first relates to the extent of the meaning of the word "claims" as per the PQQ question on professional negligence, section 4 question 7.
I take the concluding two parts of the sentence "which resulted either in a judgment" and "or were settled out of court" to mean that:
(a) legal proceedings would have commenced in both cases
and, in respect of the latter part of the sentence
(b) agreement was reached between the parties before the court was required to decide the merits of the (professional negligence) claim which had been presented before it.
Please would you confirm whether this is correct or, provide any elaboration necessary to determine the extent of this particular PQQ question should it not be correct.
2. My second question is to ask for clarification on the meaning of the phrase: “You are only required to give details of claims made in relation to any Category of Law for which public funding is available, irrespective of how the work was funded.”
Does this mean that details must only be given for subject categories that the provider is bidding for or, for any civil subject category, or for those civil categories which are the subject of the Tender in question (in this case SWL & Family)?
3. My last question is when you say “category of law” as in 2 above, would an organisation have to consider in its response all the generalist advice work it has provided over the period eg by volunteer advisers as well as specialist advice in specific subject categories given by specialist advisers/solicitors?
Answer
Thank you for your query. If you are in any doubt as to whether an issue constitutes a claim, you should provide all the relevant information and we will consider it when we assess your application.
With regard to your Q2 and Q3, I can confirm that this means categories of law for which funding is available from the LSC, irrespective of whether your firm has ever held, holds or is applying for a contract to deliver that category of law
Question (from the Civil and Crime PQQ FAQ, Q.22)
In terms of Professional Negligence claims and the requirement to disclose claims made in the last 3 years, when does time start to run? From when the negligence occurred or when the issue became the subject of a claim?
Answer:
The question in the PQQ asks for details of claims made in the last 3 years, therefore you should give details of all such claims which are made in the last 3 years, irrespective of when the incident giving rise to the claim occurred.
Post by StephenMichael on Mar 10, 2010 9:40:44 GMT
@ my mesage on 8th March.
Thet have read the message but I have not had a response. So I have sent them a message today reminding them I have not had a response. I wonder what will happen now?
Here is the question I submitted seeking clarification regarding the PQQ submission deadline and the response confirming the deadline date as 21 April 2010:
Date 05/03/2010 10:10 Subject PQQ submission deadline date Message
Please confirm the deadline for submission of the PQQ in relation to a tender for a Social Welfare Law and Family Services contract. The PQQ description (pqq_7) refers to a closing date for Crime or Mental Health with no reference to a closing date for other civil contracts, whilst section 11.5 of the IFA refers to 21 April.
Date06/03/2010 21:56 Sent byT he Legal Services Commission Subject Re: PQQ submission deadline date Message
Hello
Thank you for your query.
The current PQQ (PQQ_7) is applicable to all of the remaining civil and the crime contract tenders. As such, the PQQ overview page will always show the deadline for the next tender to close, which at the moment is the crime tender.
I am happy to confirm that the deadline for PQQ's submitted in conjunction with a response to the Family Invitation To Tender is 21.04.2010.
Post by Patrick Torsney on Mar 14, 2010 14:12:53 GMT
I'm unsure of whether there is any protocol agreed as to when the LSC will respond to questions. It may just be a case of within a 'reasonable time-frame but before the end of the period within which answers can be given' (approx 7th April, when the final FAQ will be published)
You could ask your network to contact them on your behalf and find out why they haven't come back to you. Even if they don't want to change the form it would be polite to tell you so
Here is another question I have asked - really do not understand what they are asking here. The concern here is that I posted this on 3rd March and still do not have a reply.
My Question: on Annex C pg 2 essential criteria for Debt, Housing & WB. It states on row Applicable ITT's See 2 below "By 14 October 2010, if the Applicant Organisation is tendering to deliver these Social Welfare Law Services in the Access Points set out in the ITT, each of its Offices located there must have at least Part-time Presence. If it is tendering to deliver Social Welfare Law Services in the Access Points set out in the ITT, each of its Offices located there must have a Permanent Presence."
Can you please clarify what you are saying here. Do we need a permanent presence in both access points or at the very least just one in the procurement area and then a partime presence in another access point.?
