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The Right to Challenge was introduced by the government to make it easier for voluntary and community groups or council employees to bid to run council services.
Portsmouth City Council must consider expressions of interest submitted under Community Right to Challenge and, where we accept them, run a procurement exercise for the service which anyone can compete in. So, rather than a ‘right to run’ a public service, it is a ‘right to compete’ in a procurement exercise.
The following groups are all eligible to express an interest in bidding to run a particular Portsmouth City Council service:
The terms voluntary and community bodies cover a wide range of civil society organisations, not a public or local authority. The term reflects the characteristics of such bodies rather than their organisational structure, to allow flexibility to accommodate future forms of civil society organisation.
The definition includes but is not limited to:
Gov.uk provides more information on regulations and guidance for Right to Challenge.
Submitting an expression of interest is the first formal step in using the Right to Challenge. You can download the Community Right to Challenge expressions of interest template in the Associated documents box below.
The form requests all information that an expressions of interest should include, and also requests additional information that will help the council assess if your expressions of interest is sustainable. Email completed forms to procurement@portsmouthcc.gov.uk
We will specify the maximum period that it will take to notify you of our decision on your expression of interest. Different periods may be set for different cases depending on their complexity. We will also notify you of this time period in writing within 30 days after the close of the expression of interest window.
Expressions of interest submitted as part of Community Right to Challenge are considered by Portsmouth City Council Strategic directors and other council members.
Whatever the outcome, we notify the groups who have submitted an expression of interest of the decision, and update the Expression of Interest Register to show the outcome of the process.
The decision could be:
The group submitting the expression of interest has presented a strong case that they could provide the relevant service. The council will then run a procurement exercise to find the best provider.
We may ask for an expression of interest to be modified, if we believe we would otherwise reject it. If agreement cannot be reached, we may reject the expression of interest.
If we reject an expression of interest, we will publish the decision and the reasons for that decision online. The government sets out a series of reasons why an expression of interest can be rejected: