A DIGITAL ALL AGE MENTAL HEALTH ONLINE COUNSELLING SERVICE

Concepts

• health services
• leicester
• health and social work
• mental health services
• evidencing service provision
• online counselling provision
• conditions service
• online counselling
• mental health problems
• an accessible online counselling service

Location

Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland

Description

NHS Midlands and Lancashire CSU is supporting NHS LEICESTER, LEICESTERSHIRE & RUTLAND INTEGRATED CARE BOARD (LLR ICB). LLR ICB wish to commission a Digital All Age Mental Health Online Counselling Service with a service commencement date of 1st April 2024. The Commissioner wish to receive responses to the Invitation to Tender (ITT) from suitably qualified and experienced Providers with the necessary capacity and capability to provide the range of services required. This online self-help and counseling service will provide all age digital support to those who are experiencing mental health problems, or difficulties with emotional wellbeing. The service will provide access to friendly safe information, support and advice including: • An easy-to-use website for information and articles. • Online accredited counselling • Text chat messaging • Live chat forums (moderated) The objectives and expected outcomes will include: • Delivering an accessible online counselling service to the diverse communities of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, particularly targeting under-represented groups, • Supporting integration of online counselling provision within mental health services at a neighbourhood and place-based level, • Evidencing service provision by delivering online counselling and flowing data to the Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS). The Commissioner is looking to award one contract for this service. The Contract shall be for a term of three (3) years from the Service start date with the possibility of extending the term by up to 24 months at Commissioners' discretion. The contract start date will be the 1st of April 2024. There is a maximum financial envelope of up to £270,000 per annum, or £1,350,000 (including VAT if applicable) for the whole 5 year length of the contract if extensions are used. The funding for the service will be a block contract. Any Bids that exceeds the maximum financial envelope will fail. It is proposed that the terms and conditions of the service will reflect those contained in the NHS England Standard Contract. The invitation to tender (ITT) will be available from the MLCSU Atamis e-procurement portal https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome The Bid submission deadline is 13:00 hours on 5th December 2023. Clarification questions from Bidders may be asked during the procurement process up to 13:00 hours on 24th November 2023 through Atamis e-procurement portal. Interested providers are guided to the Atamis e-procurement portal at https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome to register their interest and gain access to this procurement's documents and more specific information. Please see instructions below on how to register on the portal. To register on the Atamis portal If your organisation has registered previously, you do not need to re-register. 1) Register on the portal webpage at https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome registration and use of the website is free of charge). 2) Once registered, candidates must Express their Interest (when the tender is published) by: a) logging into the Atamis e-procurement portal b) selecting response to ITT_Contract reference: C211995 and WHISP 208 c) select Open Access ITT Contract reference: C211995 and WHISP 208 d) search for and access listing related to this contract and view details,

Total Quantity or Scope

NHS Midlands and Lancashire CSU is supporting NHS LEICESTER, LEICESTERSHIRE & RUTLAND INTEGRATED CARE BOARD (LLR ICB). LLR ICB wish to commission a Digital All Age Mental Health Online Counselling Services with a service commencement date of 1st April 2024. The Commissioners wish to receive responses to the Invitation to Tender (ITT) from suitably qualified and experienced Providers with the necessary capacity and capability to provide the range of services required. This online self-help and counseling service will provide all age digital support to those who are experiencing mental health problems, or difficulties with emotional wellbeing. The service will provide access to friendly safe information, support and advice including: • An easy-to-use website for information and articles. • Online accredited counselling • Text chat messaging • Live chat forums (moderated) … • Experience of delivering online counselling and flowing data to the Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS), • Delivering an accessible service to the diverse communities of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, particularly targeting under-represented groups, • Supporting integration of online counselling provision within mental health services at a neighbourhood and place-based level. The Commissioners are looking to award one contract for this service. The Contract shall be for a term of three (3) years from the Service start date with the possibility of extending the term by up to 24 months at Commissioners' discretion. The contract start date will be the 1st of April 2024. There is a maximum financial envelope of up to £270,000 per annum, or £1,350,000 (including VAT if applicable) for the whole 5 year length of the contract if extensions are used. The funding for the service will be a block contract. Any Bids that exceeds the maximum financial envelope will fail. It is proposed that the terms and conditions service will reflect those contained in the NHS England Standard Contract.

Renewal Options

The Commissioners are looking to award one contract for this service. The Contract shall be for a term of three (3) years from the Service start date with the possibility of extending the term by up to 24 months at Commissioners' discretion. The contract start date will be the 1st of April 2024.

CPV Codes

• 85100000 - Health services
• 85000000 - Health and social work services

Indicators

• Bids should cover the whole contract.
• Renewals are available.
• Award on basis of price and quality.

Other Information

e) click on Express Interest link. All communications from Bidders (including their Bidder Members) during the period of the Procurement must be directed to MLCSU via the 'messaging' area within the ML CSU online procurement portal through Atamis. https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome Strictly no other forms of communication to MLCSU or the Commissioner will be accepted (including telephone calls, postal queries/submissions, faxes or email communications) during this period. NOTES "Light Touch Regime" services This procurement is for clinical services which are Light Touch Regime services for the purpose of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 as specified in Schedule 3 of the Regulations ("Regulations"). Accordingly, the contracting authorities are only bound by those parts of the Regulations detailed in Chapter 3 Particular Procurement Regimes Section 7. The contracting authorities are not voluntarily following any other part of the Regulations. The procedure which the contracting authorities are following is set out in the tender. As the CCG is a relevant body for the purpose of the National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No 2) Regulations 2013 these Regulations also apply to this procurement. Right to Cancel The contracting authority reserves the right to discontinue the procurement process at any time, which shall include the right not to award a contract or contracts and does not bind itself to accept the lowest tender, or any tender received, and reserves the right to award a contract in part, or to call for new tenders should it consider this necessary. The contracting authority shall not be liable for any costs or expenses incurred by any candidate or tenderer in connection with the completion and return of the information requested in this Contract Notice, or in the completion or submission of any tender, irrespective of the outcome of the competition or if the competition is cancelled or postponed. All dates, time periods and values specified in this notice are provisional and the contracting authority reserves the right to change these. Transparency The contracting authority is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) and may be required to disclose information received in the course of this procurement under FOIA or the EIR. In addition, and in accordance with the UK Government's policies on transparency, the contracting authority intends to publish procurement documentation and the text of any resulting contractual arrangements, subject to possible redactions at the discretion of the contracting authority. Any redactions, whether in relation to information requests under FOIA, the EIR or policies on transparency will be in accordance with those grounds prescribed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. Further information on transparency can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-and-contracting-transpare...