Bristol Youth Links: update and new timeline

Following consultation, the proposals for commissioning were revised and presented to Bristol City Cabinet on 24 November 2011.  The report outlined plans to create a new joined-up Bristol Youth Links service for the city through a procurement process with a commitment to over £20 million investment in youth and play services over the next five years.  These proposals were agreed by Cabinet and, following a re-examination of the decision through a council call-in panel on 4 January, the decision has been confirmed.  A copy of the Cabinet report including a collation of the key themes that arose through consultation and how they will be addressed in the final commissioning plan is available on the council website at: https://www.bristol.gov.uk/committee/2011/ua/ua000/1124_9.pdf

Progress to date and the next steps in this process are:  

1.  Lot Structure:
BYL will commission services through area and citywide lots each with integrated services.  The previously proposed lot structure has been reconfigured to take on board many of the suggestions that came through the consultation.  This has taken some time to fully develop into a structure that meets the aims of the programme in a way that the Bristol Youth Links board consider to be effective and deliverable.  We are currently finalising the revised structure and we expect to publish this in the coming weeks.

2.  TUPE information:
We are aware that many potential providers/consortia are keen to have this information as soon as possible to help inform how they will design their services.  We collected staffing information from all current providers of Bristol Youth Links services (both internal and external) in July last year.  The next task was to allocate the information gathered into the proposed BYL lots - this was dependent on the reconfiguring of lots and we are hopeful that we can publish indicative TUPE information around the same time that we publish the revised lot structure.

3.  BCC premises:
We intend to publish information about the BCC youth centres and adventure play grounds in the near future to inform providers plans to deliver services.

4.  Market Development Event - Tuesday 14 February
As a result of changes to the commissioning plan we will hold an event to inform, develop and support the market in readiness for the Bristol Youth Links commissioning and procurement activity.  All providers will be invited to send a representative and it will involve an update on the new lot structure and outcomes model, collaborative working documentation, and an overview of the new 'Provide to Bristol' e-procurement system.

The second half of the session will focus on those potential citywide providers and online IAG providers to facilitate an opportunity to network.  We will be advertising this event very shortly and it will be held before the Pre-Qualification for the tender process begins.

5.  Bristol Youth Links procurement and implementation timeline
The table below gives the key dates for the Bristol Youth Links procurement process.
 

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