Challenge contracts

The Localism Act 2011 has created the Community Right to Challenge, which will give community and voluntary sector organisations and groups of our staff the right to ‘challenge’ local authorities by putting forward an Expression of Interest in running their services.

In line with the legislation, a successful challenge would result in a procurement exercise in which the challenger would be able to take part along with other interested organisations.

The Act does not give an automatic right to the organisation expressing an interest to deliver the service, nor is it guaranteed the organisation will be successful in any procurement exercise.

What to consider before going any further

In addition to reading the Process and Guidance there are some issues that you need to consider before deciding whether to submit an Expression of Interest:

the Act allows us to set time periods for the receipt of Expressions of Interests, any received outside these dates do not need to be considered by us
we have restricted the time period for the receipt of Expressions of Interest to be submitted prior to the renewal of any current contract
if we accept your Expression of Interest then the legislation requires that we run a procurement exercise that complies with procurement law and our rules and regulations

Time Periods

Under the Localism Act, part 5, chapter 2, paragraph 82 (2) we have the right to set time periods within which we will consider Expressions of Interest submitted under the other provisions within the Act.

In addition paragraph 82 (4) gives us the right to reject expressions of interest received outside of any specified time period.

There are currently no restrictions on receiving Expressions of Interest.

TUPE implications

If TUPE applies then under current TUPE legislation in the UK, if you are successful in the procurement exercise you will be required to do the following and have priced this in your bid:

receive all staff from us or third party contractor involved within the defined scope of the service or who spend the majority of their time on the activity
in addition receive any support staff from us or third party contractor who are allocated to support the defined service area, or again spend the majority of their time supporting the activity
all staff to be received with their full current employment terms and conditions (pay scales, holiday entitlement etc)

Pensions are covered by separate government Regulations but currently all staff transferring from us must maintain their current pension scheme (Local Government Pension Scheme) or be provided one that is broadly comparable.

Discuss proposal with us

If you are planning to submit an Expression of Interest you should contact us to discuss your intentions before submitting the Expression of interest.

This will give you a chance to discuss your proposals with the service area beforehand and allow us to provide a registration number that will be used to track an Expression of Interest through the process.