ASD Post-Diagnostic Psychoeducational Resource for Parents/Carers and Young People in Greater Essex

CPV: Communication and multimedia software development services · Communication and multimedia software package · Community health services · Educational software package · Health services · Miscellaneous health services · Programming services of systems and user software

Procedure method

Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition

Legal basis

CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)

Procurement category

Services

Notice status

Awarded without competition

Procurement threshold

Unspecified in notice

Regulatory regime

Standard

Commercial structure

Stand-alone contract (no framework)

Competition type

Direct award (no call for competition)

GPA / WTO covered

Unspecified in notice

Recurring procurement

No (one-off requirement)

First published

30 Aug 2022, 17:00 BST

Last source update

10 Jan 2023, 10:55 GMT

Award evaluation window

19 Oct 2022 – …

Authority reference

ACE-0650-2022-MSE

FTS notice number

2023/S 000-000635

Classification (CPV)

Communication and multimedia software development servicesCommunication and multimedia software packageCommunity health servicesEducational software packageHealth servicesMiscellaneous health servicesProgramming services of systems and user software

Delivery area

East of England (UKH3)

Official registry OCID

ocds-h6vhtk-03642d Find a Tender

Why no open competition

No tenders or no suitable tenders/requests to participate in response to open procedure

Published justification

The Authority is lawfully permitted to make this award under Regulation 32 (1) (a) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 ("PCR 2015") (as amended The Public Procurement (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020) (the Regulations).

The NHS Long Term Plan is committed to improving the assessment and support of children and young people (CYP) who may be autistic. To help achieve this, Contracting Authorities from health and care across Southend, Essex and Thurrock successfully secured investment from NHS England to carry out a project which delivers innovation to autism diagnostic and post-diagnostic pathways for children and young people.

A decision was made to undertake market engagement and a procurement exercise to seek a suitable provider who could support them to achieve their aims with the funding available.

The Authority issued an Invitation to Tender on 16th September in connection with the competitive procurement of an autism spectrum disorder post-diagnostic psychoeducational resource for parents and carers and young people in Essex. The process was conducted under the 'non-light touch' regime within the Regulations.

To ensure that the provider market was given an equal opportunity to fully understand the requirements of the procurement, a market engagement event was publicised on 30th August 2022 in Find a Tender Service and Contracts Finder and held via MS Teams Webinar on 12th September 2022 at 13:00 - 14:30pm. The event informed all potential bidders of the service, procurement principles, processes, and next steps.

The tender deadline expired at 12:00 noon on 19th October 2022 and unfortunately, on this occasion, the procurement exercise resulted in no tenders being received.

The Authority took a decision to conduct some further market engagement with interested and suitable providers (both those who did and did not express interest in the original tender), with an aim to run a negotiated procedure using the same Specification, to select a suitable provider, under Regulation 32 (1) (a) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015. As such the Authority contacted several organisations to understand what their potential interest was in working with us on this next phase of our project to ensure the Authority did not lose access and have to return NHSE funding, which is an outcome that is unacceptable to the ICBs and our partners on the project team, and one which we wished to avoid.

A series of 1-2-1 meetings were held, followed by a scored presentation to arrive at the award decision based on highest technical (quality) score. Thereafter a due diligence exercise was undertaken with the Preferred Bidder (utilising the Crown Commercial Service's standard selection questionnaire) to ensure they are suitably qualified and experienced, supporting the award decision being made.

The Authority has awarded the contract to Kids Charity after expiry of a standstill period of 10 days (accommodating the three bank holidays in the interim period), concluding midnight on 5th January 2023.

Publisher note: When advertised in September 2022, the Authority was looking to appoint a single Preferred Bidder to manage all aspects of the Service. As such, a Lotting Strategy was deemed inappropriate as it risked creation of unnecessary fragmentation and complexity. Accordingly, the service was procured as a single contract awarded to a single Preferred Bidder. The requirement to which this procurement related, fall within the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (as amended The Public Procurement (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020) (the "Regulations"). As previously indicated in the Contract Notice, and the Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice, the Authority may wish to expand the Services during the lifetime of the contract ("Contract modification(s)"). To this end, interested parties should be aware that after the award of contract, there is a possibility that the successful Bidder may be offered a variation(s) to the contract in accordance with Regulation 72 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended The Public Procurement (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020), in the potential circumstances and or situations as previously communicated in the FTS Contract Notice and ITT Process Overview: 1. Appropriate alignment of the Service / Contract because of changes stipulated either nationally by NHSE or required locally by the Authority or its partners in the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System (MSE ICS), either to expand the service provision to include complementary Services, or to align the service to changes in need from the eligible service user population. 2. As a result of unanticipated changes in demand for the Service, to support the successful Bidder to evolve the service slowly and sustainability to ensure successful implementation, and to ensure service safety and positive service user experience is maintained. 3. To enable the Authority to extend the contract for an additional duration, to accommodate any necessary and ongoing Subscription or License Fees that may be required as a result of any digital solution developed by the Preferred Bidder, in relation to this procurement and contract award. 4. Where additional funding becomes available to the Authority for delivery of service requirements that are similar and or complementary to the Service already included in the Specification, at any given time, and do not modify the overall nature of the contract and or for delivery of the Service over a longer duration in order to support sustainability of the Service and thorough evaluation of its effectiveness across the Southend, Essex and Thurrock Transforming Care Partnership (SET TCP). Such expansion would be by the addition of services commissioned by the Authority or its partners across the MSE ICS, where the business case provides objective evidence that contract variation is the most appropriate course of action, taking account of one or more of the following considerations; service safety, financial and economic impact, innovation, patient and public acceptability, impact on health inequalities, strategic alignment with National/Regional/Local strategic priorities, ability to improve multiple pathways, positive contribution to improved supply / improving service responsiveness, patient experience and health economy impact. 5. Where any forthcoming changes in public procurement law for health care and non-healthcare services allows for such

Submission deadline

19 Oct 2022, 12:00 BST

Submission channel

{"electronicSubmission","written"}

Accepted languages

en

Bid validity

180 days from the deadline

Bids opened

19 Oct 2022, 12:00 BST

1 further award records carry no date or value.

• KIDS CharityAwarded supplierCompany limited by guarantee No: 1346252 - Registered Charity Number 275936 7 to 9 Elliott's Place, London, East of England, N1 8HX
• KIDS CharityAwarded supplier275936 7-9 Elliott's Place, London, London, N1 8HX