Restricted Competitive Selection Process Funding Round Summary

Commonwealth Home and Community Care (HACC) Programme

Commonwealth HACC service delivery

Funding Round Summary

March 2015

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Restricted Competitive Selection Process Funding Round Summary

Commonwealth Home and Community Care (HACC) services in the South East Metro Region (SA) and in the North West Metro Region (SA)

Targeted invitation to apply for additional Commonwealth Home and Community Care Funding, in the South East Metropolitan and North West Metropolitan Regions of Adelaide that are currently being provided by an existing Commonwealth HACC grant recipient / service provider, Goodwood Community Services Inc. (Sk1207); who has chosen not to seek continued funding when their current Commonwealth HACC funding agreement activity period ends on 30 June 2015.

The funding period is 1 July 2015 to 31 October 2015 which is the transition period from the Home and Community Care Programme to the Commonwealth Home Support Programme.

Funding for the period 1 November 2015 to 30 June 2017 will be governed by the processes enunciated in the advice to the Aged Care Industry of 19 December 2014 “The new Commonwealth Home Support Programme starts on 1 July 2015”.

Selection type

This is a Restricted Selection process.

Specific requirements

To satisfy specific requirements, applicants to Commonwealth HACC services in the South East Metro Region and the North West Metro Region (SA) must be:

A Commonwealth HACC Provider that is currently receiving a Commonwealth HACC Funding Grant and is providing Commonwealth HACC services in the North West Metropolitan and South East Metropolitan Regions of South Australia.

Applicant eligibility

In all processes, for legal and accountability reasons, all applicants must be an incorporated entity to be eligible for funding. Incorporated entities include:

incorporated associations (incorporated under state or territory legislation, commonly have 'Association' or 'Incorporated' or 'Inc.' in their legal name)

incorporated cooperatives (also incorporated under state or territory legislation, commonly have ‘Cooperative' in their legal name)

companies (incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001 – may be not-for-profit or for-profit proprietary company (limited by shares or by guarantee) or public companies)

aboriginal corporations (incorporated under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Act 2006 and administered by the Office of the Registrar of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporations; Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act 1976)

organisations established through a specific piece of Commonwealth or state or territory legislation (many public benevolent institutions, churches, universities, unions etc.)

trustees on behalf of a trust

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Restricted Competitive Selection Process Funding Round Summary

Australian local governments Australian state or territory governments.

How much?

Up to $88,780 (GST EXCLUSIVE) is available from 1 July 2015 to 31 October 2015.

The funding amount is based on the existing HACC service outputs provided by the current grant recipient / HACC service provider and is summarised in Table 1 below.

Note: The funding and associated service outputs are subject to the outcomes of the Review of Counselling, Support, Information and Advocacy services currently underway.

Table 1 - Relinquishing services and outputsFor the four month transition period 1 July 2015 to 31 October 2015The service types provided to existing clients include:

South East Metro RegionService Type Outputs (1 July 2015-

31 October 2015)Funding (1 July -31 October 2015)

Service Group 1 – Domestic Assistance

248 hours $9,479.00

Service Group 1 – Social Support 508 hours $9,851.41

Service Group 2 – Counselling/support, information and advocacy ( care recipient) *

41 hours $1,234.45

Service Group 4 – Centre Based Day Care

508 hours $5,276.74

Service Group 6 – Meals 479 meals $1,998.78

Service Group 7 – Transport 803 trips $9,273.68

North West Metro RegionService Type Outputs (1 July 2015-

31 October 2015)Funding (1 July -31 October 2015)

Service Group 1 – Domestic Assistance

346 hours $13,238.10

Service Group 1 – Social Support 706 hours $13,692.14

Service Group 2 – Counselling/support, information and advocacy (care recipient) *

58 hours $1,756.24

Service Group 4 – Centre Based Day Care

702 hours $7,286.88

Service Group 6 – Meals 667 meals $2,782.57

Service Group 7 – Transport 1,117 trips $12,909.72

*Note: These outputs will be funded subject to the outcomes of the Review of Counselling, Support, Information and Advocacy services.

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Restricted Competitive Selection Process Funding Round Summary

Closing Date and Time

Applications should be submitted by 2:00pm AEST, 5 May 2015.

Who to contact?

Please email your enquiries to: grants@dss.gov.au.

Grant objectives

The additional funding is being provided as part of the Commonwealth HACC program to provide, or support the provision of basic maintenance, assistance and care services for frail older people and their carer’s, in the specified regions.

The additional Commonwealth Home and Community Care Funding in the South East Metropolitan and North West Metropolitan Regions of Adelaide and the service outputs are currently being provided by an existing Commonwealth HACC service provider who has chosen not to seek continued funding when their current Commonwealth HACC funding agreement activity period ends on 30 June 2015 for:

Social Support, Counselling/support, information and advocacy (care recipient) Centre Based Day Care, Domestic Assistance Meals and Transport

Statement of Requirement

The current HACC provider has committed to assisting an effective transfer of existing Commonwealth HACC clients to the new service provider/s, with the expected full transition of clients by 1 July 2015. The funding period is 1 July 2015 to 31 October 2015.

Funding for the period 1 November 2015 to 30 June 2017 will be governed by the processes enunciated in the advice to the Aged Care Industry of 19 December 2014 “The new Commonwealth Home Support Programme starts on 1 July 2015”.

The following special conditions apply to the services to be delivered:

As a priority HACC services must be delivered to existing HACC clients of the current HACC provider, who currently receive services primarily located in the suburb of Goodwood in the City of Unley and who wish to continue to receive these services.

The clients of the current provider come from the North West Metropolitan and South East Metropolitan Regions of SA. Other eligible clients can receive HACC services using these funds once the service needs of the clients of the existing HACC provider have been met.

Please note existing clients are predominantly from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, specifically from the Greek and Filipino communities.

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Restricted Competitive Selection Process Funding Round Summary

Funding is available for delivery of 6 service types in the North West Metropolitan and South East Metropolitan Regions of SA from 1 July 2015 to 31 October 2015. Specific service type availability is provided in Table 1 above. Total indicative funding is $88,780 (GST exclusive).

The department anticipates that it will have completed the assessment process by 1 June 2015. Subject to delegate approval, the department will contact the successful applicant/s to negotiate and execute variation/s to their funding agreements.

The department may not notify unsuccessful applicants until it has executed funding agreements with the successful applicant/s.

Funding Agreement

The successful applicant/s will be required to sign a Deed of Variation to their existing “Commonwealth HACC Program Schedule for Aged Care Funding” Agreement with the Commonwealth, represented by the department, before receiving any funding.

The successful applicant/s Deed of Variation to add the funds and outputs that are the subject of this selection may be combined with their Deed/s of Variation required to extend funding for the period 1 July 2015 to 31 October 2015 in accordance with the information and advice contained in “The new Commonwealth Home Support Programme starts on 1 July 2015”.

The schedule to the funding agreement will provide a detailed description of the activities to be provided in the project; these details will be based on the information provided in your application. Funding payments will be based on ongoing satisfactory performance in line with the funding agreement. The schedule will provide a breakdown of the respective funding to be paid throughout the life of the project.

Applicants should note that if they are successful, some details of their project (including a project outline, their name and the amount of funding awarded) will be made public and posted on the department's website as part of department’s legislative reporting obligations.

The Terms and Conditions at Attachment A will form the basis of the funding agreement offered by the department to successful applicant(s). Any partial or non-compliance issues should be disclosed as part of your proposal / application. Where no partial or non-compliance issues are identified, it will be taken to be compliant with the terms and conditions of the funding agreement.

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Restricted Competitive Selection Process Funding Round Summary

Insurance

The successful applicant/s will be required to have and maintain appropriate insurance for the amount and duration relevant to cover service provider obligations under this agreement (refer to Clause 33 of the Terms and Conditions of the funding agreement).

Selection Criteria

The selection criteria for the Commonwealth HACC Programme comprise:

eligibility criteria; and assessment criteria.

All applications will be assessed against the eligibility criteria, however only compliant applications will be assessed against the assessment criteria.

1. The eligibility criteria

The eligibility criteria are outlined in the Commonwealth HACC Program Guidelines at Attachment A.

2. Assessment Criteria

Summary of Criteria

This section details the full set of assessment criteria that may be used for funding processes under the Commonwealth HACC Program. Each assessment criterion is broken down into sub-criteria, as set out in Table 2 identified below.

For more detailed information about the selection criteria, including specific requirements, refer to Chapter 4 of the Commonwealth HACC Program Guidelines at Attachment A.

Table 2 - Assessment criteria

Criterion 1. Appropriateness of the proposal to the objectives of the activity under the Commonwealth HACC Program

1.1 Proposal is clearly defined and described, and is evidence-informed

1.2 Community affected by the proposal is addressed

1.3 Outcomes for proposal are clearly described and the proposal includes ongoing assessment of those outcomes

Criterion 2. Governance, expertise and capacity of the applicant to meet the objectives of the activity under the Commonwealth HACC Program

2.1 Demonstrates management expertise, skill, qualifications and experience

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Restricted Competitive Selection Process Funding Round Summary

Table 2 - Assessment criteria

2.2 Demonstrates staff skill levels, qualifications and experience

2.3 Demonstrates capability to meet specific program requirements (e.g., complaints and quality)

2.4 Demonstrates capability to meet general obligations under the contractual arrangement (e.g., reporting and financial management)

The Committee may also seek information about any applicant from any other source including from within the Commonwealth, whether or not the individual organisations contacted are nominated as referees by the applicant.

The department may also consider information about the applicant that is available through the normal course of business of the department including past performance against government contracts and their reporting requirements.

In accordance with transparency and fairness, the department undertakes to advise the applicant should any information, apart from that provided through the application, impact on the success of the application.

Multicultural Access and Equity policy

Australia’s Multicultural Access and Equity Policy: Respecting diversity. Improving responsiveness obliges Australian government agencies to ensure that cultural and linguistic diversity is not a barrier for people engaging with government and accessing services to which they are entitled, for example, by providing access to language services where appropriate. Grant applicants should consider whether services, projects, activities or events may require the use of professional translating or interpreting services in order to communicate with non-English speakers. If your Application Form states that a budget is required, costs for translating and interpreting services should be included in your application.

Assessment

The Assessment Team may be comprised of Department of Social Services (DSS) officers from each state/territory and national offices. Teams will undertake training to ensure consistent assessment for all applications received. The Assessment Team will be bound by the APS Code of Conduct and the Secretary’s Instructions.

The Committee will score the applicants’ responses to the selection criteria and rate applications. Refer to pages 51 - 56 of the Commonwealth HACC Program Guidelines.

Probity

The selection of funding recipients for the Activity must be fair, open and demonstrate the highest level of integrity, consistent with the public interest.

The following probity principles will be applied through all stages of the selection process.

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Restricted Competitive Selection Process Funding Round Summary

(a) fairness and impartiality

(b) consistency, accountability and transparency of process

(c) security and confidentiality of information

(d) identification and resolution of conflicts of interest

(e) compliance with legislative obligations and government policy.

These principles are intended to achieve an equitable, justifiable and sound process.

Adherence to the probity principles means that everyone involved with the selection process will act:

(f) impartially(g) with integrity, including avoiding actual or perceived conflicts of interest.

A Probity Advisor has been appointed for the Activity. The role of the Probity Adviser is to assist DSS meet its probity obligations in relation to the Activity by ensuring that the selection processes are defensible and will withstand external and internal scrutiny.

The role of the Probity Adviser is to independently monitor procedural aspects of the selection process to ensure compliance with the published relevant Programme Guidelines and to advise DSS in relation to such matters. The Probity Adviser plays no part in the assessment of applications.

Programme Guidelines Overview

The Programme Guidelines Overview provides the key starting point for parties considering whether to participate in the activity and form the basis for the business relationship between the Department and the funding recipient. Applicants are strongly advised to read the Programme Guidelines Overview prior to completing an Application Form. The Programme Guideline suite comprises of the following documents:

Commonwealth HACC Program Guidelines Funding Round Summary Application Form Commonwealth HACC Program Manual The Commonwealth HACC Program Schedule for Aged Care Funding” Agreement

with the Commonwealth, represented by the department and the Terms and Conditions for aged care funding March 2012.

How to Apply

Applications can be lodged by emailing your completed application to:

selections@dss.gov.au

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Restricted Competitive Selection Process Funding Round Summary

Grant Agreement Information

The type of grant agreement you are asked to enter into will be influenced by the nature of the Activity, the assessed Activity risk level, the length of the Activity and the value of the Activity.

The grant agreement that Commonwealth HACC providers who are eligible to apply for this process already have with the Commonwealth (represented by DSS) is a performance-based, legally enforceable agreement between the Commonwealth (represented by DSS) and the successful applicant that sets out the terms and conditions governing the funding to be provided.

If you are successful, your executed Deed of Variation to that agreement will represent the Department’s and your entire agreement in relation to each grant provided within it and the relevant Activity and supersedes all prior representations, communications, agreements, statements and understandings, whether oral or in writing.

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