Community Right to Challenge

When as expression of interest has been received, it will be sent to the director of that service to consider and evaluate as part of their preparations for setting their budget for the following year. The director will then decide to recommend that the expression of interest is either accepted, accepted with modification, or rejected.

The grounds for rejecting an expression of interest (EOI) are set out in regulations. They are:

• the EOI is not made in writing and does not comply with the requirements set out in regulations
• the authority considers that the relevant body is not suitable to provide/assist in providing the service (based on information in the EOI)
• the information provided in the EOI is unsatisfactory, inadequate or inaccurate
• the EOI relates to a service where a decision has been taken in writing by the authority to stop providing the service
• the EOI is submitted outside of a period specified by the authority
• the service, or part of the service to which an EOI relates, is already the subject of a procurement exercise
• the authority and a third party have entered into formal negotiations (at least in part in writing and where the authority can produce evidence of an intention to enter into agreement) for provision of the service
• the authority has publicly committed to exploring the mutualisation of the service
• there is an existing contract or other service agreement in place
• the authority considers that acceptance of the EOI is likely to lead to a contravention of a rule of law or a breach of statutory duty (e.g. Best Value Duty, Equalities Act 2010)
• the authority considers the EOI to be frivolous or vexatious

If the director thinks that there is merit in the expression of interest but that it lacks detail or is unworkable in its current form, you may be contacted and asked to either provide more information or to alter the proposal. This would then go forward as "accept with modification”.

The director's budget proposals – which will include their recommendations regarding any expressions of interest they have received – will be discussed with senior councillors and officers, who will evaluate the director’s recommendations. Although it will remain the director’s decision whether to accept an expression of interest or not, others can act as a “critical friend” to help them make this decision. This will normally happen in September/October each year.

After this, the director will be able to make a formal decision on the expression of interest. We expect that this will normally happen in November. All organisations who submitted an expression of interest will be contacted and told whether their expression of interest has been successful.