South-east Essex children and young people’s community paediatrics, physiotherapy and occupational therapy services

Concepts

• health services
• south-east essex children and young people
• southend on sea
• rayleigh
• essex partnership university nhs foundation trust
• south-east essex children
• provision of the south-east essex children
• young people’s community paediatrics
• physiotherapy
• occupational therapy services

Location

South-east Essex

Description

NHS Southend Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS Castle Point and Rochford Clinical Commissioning Group ("the CCG's) are publishing this Contract Award Notice in association with the voluntary ex ante transparency notice (2021/S 000-031854) published 20 December 2021, confirming the award of a contract to Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) for provision of the South-east Essex children and young people’s community paediatrics, physiotherapy and occupational therapy services (“the Services”) based at The Lighthouse Child Development Centre in Southend. The contract term is proposed at 25 months, commencing 1st March 2022 and expiring on 31st March 2024.

Total Quantity or Scope

The annual contract value is capped at £2.112m, excluding non-recurrent mobilisation costs of £129.5k. On this basis, over a 25-month term, the aggregate contract value may be up to a maximum of £4.399m plus £0.13m mobilisation costs (£4.529m) on cost-incurred, open-book basis, subject to the maximum annual cap of £2.112m (pro rata for part financial years).

Award Detail

Award Criteria

CPV Codes

• 85100000 - Health services

Indicators

• Award on basis of price.

Legal Justification

The Service falls within Schedule 3 (‘social and other specific services’, also known as the “Light Touch” Regime) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015) as amended by The Public Procurement (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (‘PPAR 2020’). Due to the nature of the situation arising with incumbent provider stepping away and handing back the Service, the Authority deemed that the grounds of extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable by the Authority exist, and that the time limits for a procurement process could not be complied with within the timescales proposed by the incumbent. The Authority found itself in a position whereby it must ensure continuity of a high quality and safe provision of the Service for all eligible patients by 1st January 2022. In its due diligence and governance processes the Authority carefully considered all activity required to be undertaken for a procurement process under the light touch regime within the timescales available, including all pre-procurement activity, pre and post procurement governance requirements, implementation of the procurement process, evaluation and award phases, contract execution period, and safe service mobilisation thereafter, for which a number of critical risks were identified, including: • Completion of on staff consultation and TUPE transfer • Significant scale of IT transition to new network, hardware and clinical system • Transfer of data and assets • Communication and engagement with patients and families Additionally, the service is being handed back as it was deemed unsafe/unsustainable for the incumbent. In the time since notification, detailed work has been undertaken by the Authority and the incumbent to understand the finances, the workforce (within which there are shortages), the activity and the scope of relevant services being handed back, for which there was no specification. It was considered to be a significant challenge for any new provider to deliver a sustainable service over the proposed contract term within the existing ‘as is’ budget. As part of the ongoing due diligence and operational discussions with the outgoing provider, it was agreed that such risks could not be managed safely by the proposed transfer date of 1st January 2022 and it was agreed in December 21 that a transfer date of 1st March 2022 would be more appropriate and allow for safe continuation of service. The Authority is attempting to mitigate an unacceptable risk of the Service suffering sudden discontinuity by engaging with the existing Community Services providers and focusing on local integration and collaboration, in alignment with the ambitions of the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System. The Authority has made the decision that working with the existing community services provider in Mid and South Essex will be the best solution as it is uniquely placed and technically capable to take on the scale and speed of implementation within timescales available to deliver an affordable and fully integrated Service in alignment with the ambitions of the integrated care system. Following the safe transfer of the ‘in-scope’ Services contractually to EPUT, the CCGs wish to continue the partnership work with the providers of Community Services in Mid and South Essex to improve the quality of overall service provision for CYP and families across all existing community services providers.

Other Information

The Service to which this procurement relates fall within Schedule 3 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 as amended by as amended by The Public Procurement (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020, (the "Regulations"). As such, the Contracting Authority does not intend to hold itself bound by any of the Regulations, save those applicable to Schedule 3 Services. The Contracting Authorities participating in the publication of this Contract Award Notice are: NHS Southend Clinical Commissioning Group 6th Floor, Civic Centre, Victoria Avenue Southend-on-Sea SS1 9SB https://southendccg.nhs.uk/ NHS Castle Point and Rochford Clinical Commissioning Group Pearl House, 12 Castle Road Rayleigh SS6 7QF https://castlepointandrochfordccg.nhs.uk/