Isolation Accommodation for newly arrived Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children with Communicable Infectious Diseases (SC240023)

Concepts

• maidstone
• welfare services
• children and young people
• communicable infectious diseases
• unaccompanied asylum seeking
• office accommodation
• unaccompanied asylum-seeking children
• children
• seeking
• newly

Location

Maidstone

Description

Kent County Council has a statutory responsibility for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking (UAS) Children under the Children Act 1989. In response to the High Court Ruling in July 2023, the Council is seeking a provider with immediate access to a registered Children’s Home to accommodate those children under 16 arriving in the UK and require isolation due to suspected or confirmed communicable infectious diseases.

Total Quantity or Scope

The services required to fulfill the offer of a Reception Centre is made up of: • Accommodation for UASC males; must be single bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms with some shared facilities i.e., kitchen and dining facilities and shared lounges. • Accommodation for staff such as offices, meeting rooms and communal areas to deliver the independence skills required, various assessments and administrative functions. • Housing support from the landlord including furniture, safety equipment such as CCTV and concierge services. • Support staff/Social Worker support. Ideally, the Reception Centre must be able to flex to an increasing need, potentially by having bedrooms and communal space of a size to fit more than one single male in one room. Physical Accommodation Requirements • A single building or grouped buildings on the same site of between 80-120 units. We will NOT be interested in small properties dispersed across the county. • The building/grouped buildings must have the correct planning permission in place to be able to deliver this service to this specific cohort. • A location within the geographical boundary of the East Kent or South Kent. • Set in a discrete location to have minimal impact on the local community. • Catering facility able to accommodate the number of occupants. • Only male aged 16-17 occupancy. • Minimum capacity of 80 placements, ideally up to 120 placements. • Communal areas are available for socialising, lessons, and briefings. • Low maintenance costs. • Easy to repair given propensity for damage. • Space for office accommodation for the SUASC Operational Team (22 staff).

CPV Codes

• 85311300 - Welfare services for children and young people

Indicators

• Bids should cover the whole contract.
• Renewals are not available.
• Award on basis of price and quality.

Legal Justification

This contract is being tendered under the Light Touch Regime, Chapter 3, regulations 73-76 of PCR 2015, please see the tender documents for further information. Therefore, the time frame has been shortened to two weeks, to enable KCC to secure sufficient capacity as quickly as possible.

Other Information

This contract is being tendered under the Light Touch Regime, Chapter 3, regulations 73-76 of PCR 2015, please see the tender documents for further information.