II.2.3) Place of performance

NUTS code:

UKH14

Main site or place of performance:

Please refer to the procurement documentation for additional information

II.2.4) Description of the procurement

In 2019 Ipswich and East Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group (IESCCG) and West Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group (WSCCG) with system partners and the community published the ten year (2019-2029) East and West Suffolk Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing Strategy with the aim to transform mental health and emotional wellbeing support in Suffolk.

The strategy describes the approach for improving mental health and emotional wellbeing outcomes in east and west Suffolk. Our Strategy can be found through the following link. https://www.westsuffolkccg.nhs.uk/get-involved/averydifferentconversation/averydifferentconversation-documents/

In order to support this strategy, the CCGs, Suffolk County Council (SCC) and Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) are looking to hear from organisations who would be interested in supporting and potentially delivering services within Ipswich and East Suffolk and/or West Suffolk.

The intention is to build a framework of providers detailing their offers to the Ipswich and East Suffolk and/or West Suffolk system in line with the four service groups relating to mental health (MH) and emotional wellbeing:

-Children, Young People and Families

-Community Mental Health

-Mental Health Crisis

-Learning Disabilities and Autism

The framework will include all appropriate offers received from any sector who feel they can support the Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing Strategy as it develops. The framework will be the first document used by the CCGs, SCC and NSFT when they are looking for partners to develop and deliver services for particular elements of the overall Strategy.

To ensure the framework remains current, relevant and innovative, it will be opened for new applications periodically throughout its term.

The CCGs, SCC and NSFT will be holding a market engagement event in the morning of the 24th September to provide further details regarding the strategy, the developments so far and the roadmap for the future.

The event will also be used to seek support to develop how the framework should be arranged and how the procurement can be undertaken in a proportionate manner, as well as providing further information regarding the need and proposed process to develop the Framework including how organisations can be added to it.

The establishment of the Framework will also provide an immediate opportunity for those interested in delivering the following services:

• Community Mental Health Services- Additional and Enhanced Support. Our new model seeks to promote early intervention and preventative approaches to support and increase the mental health and emotional wellbeing resilience of service users and their families/carers. We also wish to break down the barriers and further integrate our mental health and physical health services. As an example, we established the 'Connect' service during the Covid pandemic to provide telephone support for service users discharged from secondary mental health services. We wish to evolve this approach further to include support for service users before they require secondary mental health services and include approaches like peer support/experts by experience networks that complement our secondary mental health services.

• Mental Health Crisis - Alternative to Admission initiatives i.e Crisis Cafes and Places of Safety. We wish to work with partners to deliver the NHSE requirements of our new crisis model to develop crisis café approaches in East and West Suffolk and Places of Safety which are away from traditional blue light crisis access points including A&E and Ambulance services. Clearly there is a strong requirement for these initiatives to be worked up in partnership with our local mental health services for clinical and governance purposes.

• Children, Young People and Families - Children and Young People ADHD Diagnostics and support Service, which will include prescribing medication as required and review of cases as per NICE guidance recommendations:

• Community MH - Adults ADHD Diagnostic and Support Service: to provide a diagnostic and assessment service for adults with ADHD including physical health checks, initiation and ongoing support for prescribing and advice in line with NICE guidance and development of a clear shared care agreement with primary care.

Interested parties for the four areas named above will be asked to submit their tenders at the same time as applying to be included in the wider framework once the timeframes for the process have been confirmed. Providers will not have to bid for these specific services in order to be part of the wider framework moving forward.

The CCGs, SCC and NSFT are looking to communicate with all areas of provision, from established mental health providers through to informal support groups and all those providers and support entities in between.

This Prior Information Notice is a call for competition and only those providers who express an interest in moving forward with this development will receive any further documentation, therefore it is vital for interested parties to make contact through the method below prior to the market engagement event, regardless of whether there is an intention to attend or not. There is no commitment resulting from expressing an interest in this opportunity. Access to the framework will be proportionate and informed by the feedback at the market engagement event, which will also help to shape the build of the procurement moving forward.

The CCGs intend to award contracts without further publication and therefore providers are required to express their interest.

If you are interested in this opportunity please express an interest on https://in-tendhost.co.uk/westsuffolkcommissioning/aspx/Home. Register or login to In-tend and then select the tenders (current) tab, select the Mental Health Support Services and click on express interest. This will register you against this opportunity so you receive any documentation and are able to access the invite for the market engagement event which will be added as a clarification.

It is hoped that the CCGs, SCC and NSFT will receive a number of varied proposals and it encourages any interested organisation from any sector to express an interest to find out more.

II.2.13) Information about European Union funds

The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No

II.2.14) Additional information

Please note that the services and associated specification and prices commissioned within this contract may be subject to review and change, moving forward the Commissioners may further review the above mentioned services in conjunction with the selected providers; therefore, the scope of the possible changes to be made to this contract shall relate to the outcomes of any continuous improvement, through a variation to the contract in accordance with Regulation 72 (1) (a) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Please see the procurement documentation for further information.

Additionally, the contract may also be amended in terms of the original services supplied or the localities covered, where, following assessment it is identified that it is logical for additional services to be delivered in conjunction with this contract and / or by the provider(s), both in terms of actual service delivery and to avoid duplication of costs. These services may include but are not limited to other services and specialties formally delivered in alternative care settings where it is foreseen that these services can be delivered more effectively as part of this contract

The services to which this procurement relates fall within Schedule 3 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (the "Regulations"). As such, the procurement of the services is being run as a process akin to the procedure mentioned above, as outlined within the suite of procurement documents. The Contracting Authority does not intend to hold itself bound by any of the regulations, save those applicable to Schedule 3 Services.