NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board (ICB) early intervention and preventative emotional wellbeing and mental health services for Children and Young People (CYP) age 0 to 25 years

Tender description

Following Market Engagement and a formal procurement process, NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Procurement Unit is issuing this Intention to Award Contract Notice on behalf of NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board (ICB) to inform the market that it intends to award two contracts for early intervention and preventative emotional wellbeing and mental health services for Children and Young People (CYP) age 0 to 25 years, across the counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. These services are classed as Health Care services under The Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023 (PSR). The ICB has adopted a Competitive Process in accordance with Regulations 6(7) and 11 of the PSR Regulations. Under the PSR Regulations, the ICB was required to assess bids based on basic Selection Criteria, Five Key Criteria (as defined in Regulation 5 of the PSR), and any other elements relevant to contract award. The ICB applied the Crown Commercial Services Selection Questionnaire for the basic Selection Criteria. Following the assessment, the ICB is intending to award contracts for two lots for the above services, i.e., Lot 1 - Herefordshire, Lot 2 - Worcestershire, for a period of 3 years with the option to extend for up to another 2 years at its discretion. Bidding organisations were able to submit bids for either lot, or for both lots. The contracts for both lots will mobilise from the 1st April 2025. The total estimated lifetime value of the contract is £7,127,600 for the 3 year contract plus the optional extension period of 2 years; this is split to £1,781,900 for Lot 1 (Herefordshire), and £5,345,700 for Lot 2 (Worcestershire). The service is expected to be offered with flexibility to meet local need; some evening and weekend provision will also be required. The indicative proposed minimum activity levels were 1647 per year for Lot 1 (Herefordshire), and 5022 per year for Lot 2 (Worcestershire). This notice has been issued subject to the Provider Selection Regime (PSR) regulations 2023 for the Procurement of Healthcare Services. Lot 1: Lot 1 - Herefordshire NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICB's key priority is the improvement and expansion of Early Intervention and Prevention Emotional Wellbeing and mental health services across the county of Herefordshire. This will: • Increase provision for children and young people to access support and interventions • Improve equity of provision across both counties • Extend support at the early intervention and preventative services to children and young adults aged 0-25 (up to the day before their 25th birthday). • Reduce reliance on schools/colleges to make the referrals and introduce flexibility to reach vulnerable children and young people not currently accessing services due to reasons such as complex needs or not attending school. The new service will: • Proactively target those children and young people 0-25 years who do not meet the Specialist CAMHS or adult mental health services thresholds and offer early intervention support to young people who are hard to engage. • Provide a range of forums and venues to offer children, young people, families and professionals an appropriate first point of contact. • Work collaboratively with other providers and agencies to continually market the service and ensure the service is universally known about, joined up, whilst working with the targeted vulnerable groups of children and young people. • Continuous engagement and integration with referral agencies, universal and Early Help services to not only promote the service but ensure pathways are effective. • Use recognised assessment and evaluation tools and set clear outcome measures with children and young people accessing the service. The successful provider must be able to submit and flow data successfully to the Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS) and provide assurance of this. The total estimated lifetime value of the contract for Lot 1 (Herefordshire) is £1,781,900 for the 3 year contract plus the optional extension period of 2 years. The service commencement date is 1st April 2025. This is a Provider Selection Regime (PSR) Contract Notice. The awarding of the contract is subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 do not apply to this notice. Additional information: The ICB did not require bidders to submit bid prices. However, as part of the Part B (Value) pass/fail evaluation criteria, all bidders were requested to: • complete a Financial Model Template per lot for information only, to show the proposed breakdown of their costs relating to the proposed service delivery • confirm that they could provide the services (as per the Service Specification) for the lifetime of the contract, including the optional extension period (i.e., 3 years, with the option to extend for an additional 2 years with mutual consent) within the ICB's specified total financial threshold, for the Lot (or Lots) for which they were bidding. The ICB reserved the right to reject any Bids which failed this question. Lot 2: Lot 2 - Worcestershire NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICB's key priority is the improvement and expansion of Early Intervention and Prevention Emotional Wellbeing and mental health services across the county of Worcestershire. This will: • Increase provision for children and young people to access support and interventions • Improve equity of provision across both counties • Extend support at the early intervention and preventative services to children and young adults aged 0-25 (up to the day before their 25th birthday). • Reduce reliance on schools/colleges to make the referrals and introduce flexibility to reach vulnerable children and young people not currently accessing services due to reasons such as complex needs or not attending school. The new service will: • Proactively target those children and young people 0-25 years who do not meet the Specialist CAMHS or adult mental health services thresholds and offer early intervention support to young people who are hard to engage. • Provide a range of forums and venues to offer children, young people, families and professionals an appropriate first point of contact. • Work collaboratively with other providers and agencies to continually market the service and ensure the service is universally known about, joined up, whilst working with the targeted vulnerable groups of children and young people. • Continuous engagement and integration with referral agencies, universal and Early Help services to not only promote the service but ensure pathways are effective. • Use recognised assessment and evaluation tools and set clear outcome measures with children and young people accessing the service. The successful provider must be able to submit and flow data successfully to the Mental Health Services Data Set (MHSDS) and provide assurance of this. The total estimated lifetime value of the contract for Lot 2 (Worcestershire) is £5,345,700 for the 3 year contract plus the optional extension period of 2 years. The service commencement date is 1st April 2025. This is a Provider Selection Regime (PSR) Contract Notice. The awarding of the contract is subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 do not apply to this notice. Additional information: The ICB did not require bidders to submit bid prices. However, as part of the Part B (Value) pass/fail evaluation criteria, all bidders were requested to: • complete a Financial Model Template per lot for information only, to show the proposed breakdown of their costs relating to the proposed service delivery • confirm that they could provide the services (as per the Service Specification) for the lifetime of the contract, including the optional extension period (i.e., 3 years, with the option to extend for an additional 2 years with mutual consent) within the ICB's specified total financial threshold, for the Lot (or Lots) for which they were bidding. The ICB reserved the right to reject any Bids which failed this question.