Alcohol and Drug Services

Concepts

• alcohol and drug services
• health and social work
• oldbury
• drug services contract
• additional drug outreach worker
• drug services
• alcohol
• following elements
• metropolitan council
• minor modifications

Location

Oldbury

Description

Sandwell Metropolitan Council intend to utilise Regulation 72 (1) (C), to vary the Alcohol and Drug Services contract. The variation has two strands, as detailed below: 1) The following elements will be added to the contract for a period of 12 months: • enhanced harm reduction: peer-to-peer naloxone provision and additional supply of naloxone; addition of foil within needle syringe packs • more treatment options: additional supply of the novel long acting opioid substitution therapy provision buvidal; • increased Integration and improved care pathways: recruitment of a number of referral generation workers and an additional drug outreach worker; • increased treatment capacity: an additional drug treatment worker; 2) The following element will be added to the contract for the period of 1 June 2021 to 31 January 2023: • assertive outreach capacity linked to the local Sandwell Blue Light project.

Total Quantity or Scope

The alcohol and drug services contract was advertised on OJEU in 2017 and awarded in 2018, for a 3-year contract with the option to extend the contract for upto a further 2 years. The total value of the contract across the 5 years including the permissible 2-year extension period is GBP 13 152 124.00. Following award of the contract multiple minor modifications have been made totalling GBP 302 963.56, utilising Regulation 72(5) (b) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015, which allows for modifications to a contract as long as the modification does not alter the nature of the contract and falls below the relevant procurement threshold and 10 % of the aggregated contract value. Following the national spending review for 21/22, the government announced additional funding for England’s drug treatment services which is required to be spent in 2021/22. Sandwell has received an allocated amount of this grant. The receipt of this additional money from government was not foreseen and only announced to local areas in March 2021. The funding must be spent on a specific menu of interventions focused on reducing drug related crime and reducing drug related deaths. Many of the permissible spend interventions include expansion or enhancement of existing pharmacological and psychosocial interventions required in the current contract. The Council intends to vary the current contract by a further amount of GBP 260 953.00 to include provision of the following elements for a period of 12 months: • enhanced harm reduction: peer-to-peer naloxone provision and additional supply of naloxone; addition of foil within needle syringe packs; … • increased integration and improved care pathways: recruitment of a number of referral generation workers and an additional drug outreach worker; • increased treatment capacity: an additional drug treatment worker. The Council also intends to vary the existing contract to include assertive outreach capacity linked to the local Sandwell Blue Light project. The value of this variation is GBP 179 464.00 covering the period 1 June 2021 to 31 January 2023. Following an evaluation of the approach it was identified that assertive outreach capacity was needed to help enhance the approach and time limited funding from the local Better Care Fund was secured towards this. This will mean that the aggregated variation value will be GBP 743 380.56 and will exceed the light touch OJEU threshold. Therefore, this VEAT notice is to inform the market of the Councils intention to utilise Regulation 72 (1) (C), which allows for modified without a new procurement procedure where all of the following conditions are fulfilled: (i) the need for modification has been brought about by circumstances which a diligent contracting authority could not have foreseen; (ii) the modification does not alter the overall nature of the contract; (iii) any increase in price does not exceed 50 % of the value of the original contract or framework agreement.

Award Detail

CPV Codes

• 85000000 - Health and social work services

Indicators

Legal Justification

The alcohol and drug services contract was advertised on OJEU in 2017 and awarded in 2018, for a 3-year contract with the option to extend the contract for upto a further 2 years. The total value of the contract across the 5 years including the permissible 2 year extension period is GBP 13 152 124.00. Following award of the contract multiple minor modifications have been made totalling GBP 302 963.56, utilising Regulation 72(5) (b) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015, which allows for modifications to a contract as long as the modification does not alter the nature of the contract and falls below the relevant procurement threshold and 10 % of the aggregated contract value. Following the national spending review for 21/22, the government announced additional funding for England’s drug treatment services which is required to be spent in 2021/22. Sandwell has received an allocated amount of this grant. The receipt of this additional money from government was not foreseen and only announced to local areas in March 2021. The funding must be spent on a specific menu of interventions focused on reducing drug related crime and reducing drug related deaths. Many of the permissible spend interventions include expansion or enhancement of existing pharmacological and psychosocial interventions required in the current contract. The Council intends to vary the current contract by a further amount of GBP 260 953.00 to include provision of the following elements for a period of 12 months: • enhanced harm reduction: peer-to-peer naloxone provision and additional supply of naloxone; addition of foil within needle syringe packs; • more treatment options: additional supply of the novel long acting opioid substitution therapy provision buvidal; • increased integration and improved care pathways: recruitment of a number of referral generation workers and an additional drug outreach worker; •increased treatment capacity: an additional drug treatment worker. The Council also intends to vary the existing contract to include assertive outreach capacity linked to the local Sandwell Blue Light project. The value of this variation is GBP 179 464.00 covering the period 1 June 2021 to 31 January 2023. Following an evaluation of the approach it was identified that assertive outreach capacity was needed to help enhance the approach and time limited funding from the local Better Care Fund was secured towards this. This will mean that the aggregated variation value will be GBP 743 380.56 and will exceed the light touch OJEU threshold. Therefore, this VEAT notice is to inform the market of the Councils intention to utilise Regulation 72 (1) (C), which allows for modified without a new procurement procedure where all of the following conditions are fulfilled: (i) the need for modification has been brought about by circumstances which a diligent contracting authority could not have foreseen; (ii) the modification does not alter the overall nature of the contract. (iii) any increase in price does not exceed 50 % of the value of the original contract or framework agreement.