Progress: Building Better Opportunities for young people across Coventry & Warwickshire - Specialist Partner

Concepts

• warwickshire
• coventry
• social work
• birmingham
• young people
• specialist partner
• high proportion of young people
• specialist service
• young person
• progress coaches

Location

Description

Groundwork UK is looking for a Specialist Partner or Partners to help support the high proportion of young people engaging with Progress who are demonstrating mild to moderate mental health concerns. These conditions are both diagnosed and undiagnosed, and can act as a barrier to the young person progressing into education, employment, or training. The specialist service should be designed to address local need in Coventry and/ or Warwickshire, offering a rapid, responsive service to Progress participants, and that helps the programme dovetail effectively with other, existing mental health services. Proposals are sought from organisations that can help increase the scope and variety of services that Progress Coaches are able to offer young people, helping to build the confidence and skills needed to progress toward positive outcomes, and to remove barriers. Consultation with existing partners has highlighted high concentrations of low level mental health concerns amongst the young people engaged in Progress to date, with the need for an appropriate, responsive service to help address and manage these concerns. It is anticipated that severe or chronic mental health conditions will need to be referred to existing health services. Prospective partners should outline the format of their proposed offer in the tender submission document, demonstrating why they deem this to be an effective approach to addressing mild to moderate mental health concerns amongst the target group. This could be in the form of 1-1 counselling or therapeutic services and support, group sessions focused on positive mental health, workshops responding to the needs of the young people on programme, support for Progress Coaches working with young people who are experiencing poor mental health, CPD for staff working on the project, or a combination of these and other approaches. Participants access Specialist Partner support via a referral from their Progress Coach. Whilst accessing specialist provision, the young person will also continue to work with their Progress Coach. Specialist Partners and Progress Coaches work closely to track the progress of participants and ensure that they are taking the maximum benefit from the programme. Ideally the new partner(s) will be able to deliver services across Coventry & Warwickshire, but proposals from organisations delivering in specific areas without coverage across all areas will be considered. In these circumstances the full budget would be distributed across a number of successful tenderers. A total of £72,000 is available for the delivery of additional activity for young people across Coventry & Warwickshire. This must provide activities for a minimum of 72 young people, with value for money a key consideration in the assessment of proposals from potential partners. Proposals that can support considerably more than the minimum number of young people, whilst continuing to offer a quality service are welcomed.

CPV Codes

• 98000000 - Other community, social and personal services

Indicators

• Contract is suitable for SMEs.
• Contract is suitable for VCOs.

Other Information

Progress aims to: • help young people overcome the personal barriers and challenges preventing them from engaging positively in learning or work • provide a clear pathway for young people to increase their skills and take the first steps on their future career path through training or employment In order to achieve these aims we have developed a partnership that brings together leading youth and employment charities, organisations specialising in supporting young people with complex needs, colleges and training providers. Together, our focus is on identifying and helping those young people most in need of support including care leavers, lone parents, young offenders, and young people with disabilities. We are looking for organisations: • Able to deliver specialist provision in line with the service description and delivery model. • With delivery history and capacity in Coventry & Warwickshire - ideally with experience of working with NEET / at risk of NEET young people and/or young people with complex or specific barriers to engagement with education, employment or training. • With experience and track record in supporting young people. • Committed to open communication and collaborative, partnership-focussed working. • Ready to commence delivery from September 2021 • Who will add value to the Progress partnership overall, supporting other partners to recruit and progress suitable young people. • With the experience, capacity and capability to manage the requirements of the European Social Fund. Procurement Process 1. With reference to the Scoring Matrix (Appendix C), please complete the following, submitting both documents to karen.field@groundwork.org.uk and contracts@groundwork.org.uk by 12pm MIDDAY on Friday 27th August 2021: a. Tender Submission (Appendix B) and b. Form of Tender (Appendix D) 2. Groundwork will assess and score tenders and respond to all tenderers by 5pm on Friday 3rd September 2021. 3. The highest scoring tenderers may be invited to interview at Groundwork UK (Central Birmingham) or via MS Teams on Wednesday 8th September 2021. Please ensure suitable representatives are available on one of these dates. 4. The outcome of the interviews will be communicated by Friday 10th September. 5. The successful tenderer(s) to meet with Groundwork UK on week commencing 13th September 2021. 6. Delivery to commence on or before 20th September 2021. For further information or clarification please email progress@groundwork.org.uk stating "BBO Partnership Tender" in the email subject line. The final deadline for tender-related questions is midday, Wednesday 25th August 2021. https://www.groundwork.org.uk/bbo-specialist-partner-tender-opportunity-mental-h... Tender Submission Template BBO_ITT_SpecialistPartners_August21_MH2021_AppB_SubmissionTemplate.docx Tender Scoring Matrix BBO_ITT_SpecialistPartners_August21_MH2021_AppC_ScoringMatrix.pdf Form of Tender BBO_ITT_APPENDIX D_FormOfTender_CovW-1-3-MH2021.docx Tender BBO_ITT_SpecialistPartners_August21_MH2021_Specification&AppA.pdf