Contract award notice
Results of the procurement procedure
Section I: Contracting
entity
I.1) Name and addresses
NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board
Unit 10 Phoenix Court, Christopher Martin Road
Basildon
SS14 3HG
UK
Contact person: Amy Jayne Alexandra Wilson
E-mail: amy.wilson@attain.co.uk
NUTS: UKH3
Internet address(es)
Main address: https://www.midandsouthessex.ics.nhs.uk/
I.1) Name and addresses
NHS Herts and West Essex Integrated Care Board
Charter House Parkway Welwyn Garden City
Hertfordshire
AL8 6JL
UK
E-mail: amy.wilson@attain.co.uk
NUTS: UKH35
Internet address(es)
Main address: https://hertsandwestessex.icb.nhs.uk/
I.1) Name and addresses
NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board
Aspen House Stephenson Road Severalls Business Park
Colchester
CO4 9QR
UK
E-mail: amy.wilson@attain.co.uk
NUTS: UKH3
Internet address(es)
Main address: https://suffolkandnortheastessex.icb.nhs.uk/
I.2) Joint procurement
The contract involves joint procurement
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
I.5) Main activity
Health
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
Dynamic Support Register Keyworker Service
Reference number: ACE-0771-2024-MSE
II.1.2) Main CPV code
85000000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
Hereafter all references to the Authority incorporates: NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB), NHS Suffolk and North East Essex ICB and NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB.
The Authority has awarded a contract for the Provision of a Pan Essex Dynamic Support Register Keyworker (non-clinical) Service (the Service) to HCRG Care Services Ltd, using an open procedure under the Public Contract Regulations 2015.
The Contract will be for a term of 36 months from 1st April 2025 until 31st March 2028. The Authority provided for a potential extension of up to 24 months until 31st March 2030 to future proof this contract, but this is in no way guaranteed, and activation of such extension will be at the sole discretion of the Authority based on fundamental principles laid out in the Tender Documents, as well as the performance of the provider and results of any service evaluations undertaken.
The Contract to be entered into by the Authority and the HCRG Care Services Ltd will be based on the NHS Terms and Conditions for the Provision of Services 2024/25 (version dated August 2022) and all subsequent variations thereof.
The aggregate value of the contract over the term (including extensions) as advertised in Find a Tender Service is £4,715,395 excluding VAT. The Contract Value for the three-year term, which acted as an affordability envelope for the purposes of bidding, is £2,829,147.
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.1.7) Total value of the procurement
Value excluding VAT:
4 715 395.00
GBP
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
48180000
48190000
85000000
85140000
85323000
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKH3
Main site or place of performance:
Essex, including: North East Essex, West Essex, Mid Essex, Basildon & Brentwood, Thurrock, Southend-on-Sea and Castle Point and Rochford
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
The Authority undertook an open tender to identify a suitably qualified and experienced and technically and professionally capable provider to deliver the Service for Children & Young People (CYP) with learning disabilities and/or autism (LD/A) up to the age of 25, within Southend, Essex & Thurrock (SET). Locally, SET have too many CYP with LD/A admitted to Tier 4 hospital settings according to national targets. Embedding the DSR Keyworker Service aims to reduce these admissions for those up to the age of 25 where avoidable and help to maintain and support the CYP’s placement within the community.
The Authority has appointed a single Preferred Bidder to manage all aspects of the Service. As such, a Lotting Strategy was deemed inappropriate and not used, as it risked creation of unnecessary fragmentation and complexity. Accordingly, the service has been offered as a single contract awarded to a single Preferred Bidder (HCRG Care Services Ltd).
The team that facilitated this procurement was the LD/Autism Health Equalities Team (LD/A HET), hosted by Essex County Council, which works across the Transforming Care Partnership between the three Integrated Care Boards (ICB), which are named as Contracting Authorities in the Contract Notice, and the three Local Authorities. These are Essex County Council (ECC), Southend-on-Sea Unitary Authority and Thurrock Unitary Authority. The programme is delivered by all partners within the TCP, but the Service Development Funding (SDF) for this Service comes from NHSE directly to the ICB's. The partnership and funding flows are thereafter governed / mechanised under a Section 75 Agreement between partners, meaning the funding sits within ECC budgets purely as it hosts the LD/A HET team, to enable the team to deliver the programme of work. The Authority took the decision to name the ICBs in the Contract Notice as the Commissioners, as the proposed Contract will be managed by ICB Contract Manager(s) and Commissioners. However, the successful bidder is required to invoice ECC to enable the necessary payment mechanisms to be implemented because of where the funding is sitting/managed. The Local Authorities are not proposed to be party to the Contract.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Quality criterion: Quality
/ Weighting: 100
Price
/ Weighting:
0
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
Yes
Description of options:
The Authority is providing for a potential extension of up to 24 months until 31st March 2030 to future proof this contract, but this is in no way guaranteed, and activation of such extension will be at the sole discretion of the Authority based on fundamental principles laid out in the Tender Documents, as well as the performance of the provider and results of any service evaluations undertaken.
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure
Open procedure
IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement:
No
IV.2) Administrative information
IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
Notice number in the OJ S:
2024/S 000-033346
Section V: Award of contract
Title: Dynamic Support Register Keyworker Service
A contract/lot is awarded:
Yes
V.2 Award of contract
V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
06/01/2025
V.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 2
Number of tenders received from tenderers from non-EU Member States: 2
Number of tenders received by electronic means: 2
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators:
No
V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
HCRG Care Services Ltd
07557877
The Heath Business and Technical Park, Runcorn
Cheshire
WA7 4QX
UK
NUTS: UKI
Internet address(es)
URL: www.hcrgcaregroup.com
The contractor is an SME:
No
V.2.4) Information on value of the contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot:
Lowest offer:
2 829 147.00
GBP
/ Highest offer:
4 715 395.00
GBP
V.2.5) Information about subcontracting
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.3) Additional information
The Services within this procurement fall within Section 7 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (the "Regulations"). Neither the inclusion of the Bidder at Qualification Stage nor the use of the terms Process Overview, Selection Questionnaire, or Invitation to Tender nor any other indication shall be taken to mean that the Authority intends to hold themselves bound by any of the Regulations save those applicable to Public Contracts for social and other specific services listed in Schedule 3 of the Regulations (the "Light Touch" Regime).
The Authority may wish to expand the Dynamic Support Register Keyworker Services during the lifetime of the contract ("Contract modification(s)"). To this end, Bidders were made aware that after the award of contract, there was a possibility that the successful Bidder may be offered a variation(s) to the contract in accordance with Regulation 72 (1) (a) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended The Public Procurement (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020), in the following potential circumstances and or situations where necessary;
a) Appropriate alignment of the Service / Contract with the planned expansion of the DSR function for the SET TCP.
b) As a result of learning from dependent contracts commissioned to support autistic CYP, those with a learning disability (or both) such as the All Age Autism Outreach Service.
c) where additional funding becomes available to the Authority for delivery of service requirements that are similar and or complementary to the Keyworker Services already included in the Specification, at any given time, and do not modify the overall nature of the contract and or for delivery of the Keyworker Service over a longer duration in order to support sustainability of the Service and thorough evaluation of its effectiveness across the SET TCP. Such expansion would be by the addition of services commissioned by the Authority, where the Business Case provides objective evidence that contract variation is the most appropriate course of action, taking account of one or more of the following considerations; service safety, financial and economic impact, innovation, patient and public acceptability, impact on health inequalities, strategic alignment with National/Regional/Local strategic priorities, ability to improve multiple pathways, positive contribution to improved supply / improving service responsiveness, patient experience and health economy impact.
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
High Court of Justice of England and Wales
The Strand
London
WC2A 2LL
UK
VI.4.4) Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained
NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board
Unit 10 Phoenix Court, Christopher Martin Road
Basildon
SS14 3HG
UK
E-mail: amy.wilson@attain.co.uk
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
20/01/2025