Martin Narey, chief executive of Barnardo's, said he had seen tenderdocuments with up to 90 pages of contractual terms and conditions.
Putting contractual terms in at the tender stage means organisations areduty-bound to abide by them even if they don't have those particularmanagement structures, which are often heavily biased in favour of thelocal authority.
Issues that can arise include: no opportunity for the provider tonegotiate management structures; a condition for the local authority toterminate the contract after six months; and a right for the localauthority to alter terms.
Narey said there are inequalities between the voluntary and privatesectors. The private sector is rarely subject to such tight contractualregulations at the tendering stage.
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