Prior information notice
This notice is for prior information only
Section I: Contracting
authority
I.1) Name and addresses
Kent County Council
County Hall
Maidstone
ME14 1XQ
UK
Contact person: Ms Hannah Durling
Telephone: +44 3000421154
E-mail: Hannah.durling@kent.gov.uk
NUTS: UKJ4
Internet address(es)
Main address: http://www.kent.gov.uk
Address of the buyer profile: http://www.kent.gov.uk
I.3) Communication
Additional information can be obtained from the abovementioned address
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Regional or local authority
I.5) Main activity
Health
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
CN250246 - Proposed Therapeutic Support Service for Children and Young People
Reference number: DN759960
II.1.2) Main CPV code
85323000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
Prior Information Notice: Draft Specification – proposed Children and Young People’s Therapeutic Support Service
** This advert is for market awareness and engagement only **
This Prior Information Notice is to share extracts from a draft Specification for a proposed Children and Young People’s Therapeutic Support Service to be procured under The Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. This is following an online market engagement event held on Wednesday 12th February 2025. (Please note: this proposal follows a Key Decision taken in March 2025).
The proposed Therapeutic Support Service would support children and young people aged 4-19 who have mild/moderate emotional wellbeing needs. This means children and young who may need support with difficulties such as:
• Nervousness or anxiety
• Difficulty concentrating
• Difficultly sleeping
• Avoiding school or activities
• Feeling low and not good about themselves
• Not wanting to be with friends or family
We are proposing that this service will be closely aligned with the proposed Therapeutic Alliance, being commissioned by NHS Kent and Medway to support children and young people with predominantly moderate emotional wellbeing and mental health needs.
Feedback on draft Specification
We would like to share the draft Specification with providers and invite comment and feedback using the following survey link by midday on Friday 21st March 2025:
https://forms.office.com/e/a9urnqS19A
We are also sharing the responses to questions raised at the Market Engagement Event held on Wednesday 12th February 2025 and through our feedback survey, alongside this PIN.
How to access draft Specification
In order to access the draft Specification please visit https://www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk/ and register your interest. Once registered please search under the current opportunities using keyword reference CN250246.
Future Market Engagement
We are no longer intending to hold a further in-person market engagement event, due to the proposed timescales, but to support collaborative conversations, we would like to invite any providers who would like to have their details shared with other interested organisations to complete the Provider Information form that will be available on the portal, and email it to phstprogramme@kent.gov.uk by midday on 21.03.25. By returning this form, you are giving consent for this information to be shared with other interested organisations who have also shared their details for this purpose.
KCC will compile the responses into a provider prospectus and aim to distribute this document via email during the week commencing 24.03.25, to all providers who have submitted and consented for their details to be shared. Please note, we will not be providing further updates to the provider prospectus after this point.
Proposed Next Steps:
Following a Key Decision taken in March 2025, we propose to publish an Invitation to Tender on the Kent Business Portal in early April 2025.
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.2) Description
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKJ4
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Prior Information Notice: Draft Specification – proposed Children and Young People’s Therapeutic Support Service
** This advert is for market awareness and engagement only **
This Prior Information Notice is to share extracts from a draft Specification for a proposed Children and Young People’s Therapeutic Support Service to be procured under The Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. This is following an online market engagement event held on Wednesday 12th February 2025. (Please note: this proposal follows a Key Decision taken in March 2025).
The proposed Therapeutic Support Service would support children and young people aged 4-19 who have mild/moderate emotional wellbeing needs. This means children and young who may need support with difficulties such as:
• Nervousness or anxiety
• Difficulty concentrating
• Difficultly sleeping
• Avoiding school or activities
• Feeling low and not good about themselves
• Not wanting to be with friends or family
We are proposing that this service will be closely aligned with the proposed Therapeutic Alliance, being commissioned by NHS Kent and Medway to support children and young people with predominantly moderate emotional wellbeing and mental health needs.
Feedback on draft Specification
We would like to share the draft Specification with providers and invite comment and feedback using the following survey link by midday on Friday 21st March 2025:
https://forms.office.com/e/a9urnqS19A
We are also sharing the responses to questions raised at the Market Engagement Event held on Wednesday 12th February 2025 and through our feedback survey, alongside this PIN.
How to access draft Specification
In order to access the draft Specification please visit https://www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk/ and register your interest. Once registered please search under the current opportunities using keyword reference CN250246.
Future Market Engagement
We are no longer intending to hold a further in-person market engagement event, due to the proposed timescales, but to support collaborative conversations, we would like to invite any providers who would like to have their details shared with other interested organisations to complete the Provider Information form that will be available on the portal, and email it to phstprogramme@kent.gov.uk by midday on 21.03.25. By returning this form, you are giving consent for this information to be shared with other interested organisations who have also shared their details for this purpose.
KCC will compile the responses into a provider prospectus and aim to distribute this document via email during the week commencing 24.03.25, to all providers who have submitted and consented for their details to be shared. Please note, we will not be providing further updates to the provider prospectus after this point.
Proposed Next Steps:
Following a Key Decision taken in March 2025, we propose to publish an Invitation to Tender on the Kent Business Portal in early April 2025.
II.3) Estimated date of publication of contract notice:
04/04/2025
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement:
No
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
14/03/2025