OPPORTUNITY NOTICE - IMPROVING ACCESS TO PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPIES (IAPT) SERVICE IN LEICESTER, LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND (LLR)

Description

This is a call for competition. The 3 Leicestershire NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG's) will be re-commissioning their Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Service. The Commissioners are planning to procure a lead provider to deliver a Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) wide IAPT service from April 2021.

The Commissioners wish to receive responses to the Invitation to Tender (ITT) from suitably qualified and experienced Providers with the necessary capacity and capability (or a demonstrable ability to provide the necessary capacity and capability) to provide the range of services required.

The aim of the service is to offer recommended treatments for depression and anxiety. The IAPT service contributes to the national mental health strategy which aims to:
•	Improve the mental health and wellbeing of the population and keep people well.
•	Improve outcomes for people with mental health problems through high-quality services that are equally accessible to all - the service will cover the people aged 16 and over who are registered with a Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland GP Practice.

The objectives and expected outcomes are:
•	experience of delivering evidence based psychological therapies provision.
•	supporting integration of IAPT provision within mental health services at a neighbourhood and place-based level. 
•	build in the experience and expertise of Third sector organisations to support delivery.
•	deliver an accessible service to the diverse communities of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

The Contract shall be for a term of five (5) years from the Service start date with the possibility of extending the term by up to 24 months beyond the initial contracted term at the Commissioners' request. The anticipated contract start date is 1st of April 2021. 

The funding for the service will be a 97.5% block funding with 2.5% linked to outcomes in Year 1 increasing to 95% block and 5% linked to outcomes in Year 2 and onwards. This contract has a total value of c£59.74m including extensions (please note that the Commissioners reserve the right to reject bids that exceed the budgetary threshold).

The service will be commissioned via an open type procurement process advertised to all providers which is proportionate to the value and complexity of the service and contract. 

The invitation to tender (ITT) will be available from 17th August 2020 on M&L CSU Bravo portal (see below) and it will have a deadline for submissions 23rd September 2020. 
Clarifications may be asked during the procurement process up to a week before the ITT deadline on 16th September 2020.

We recommend current providers of similar services, providers who may be interested in providing this service, or other stakeholders who may have an interest in providing this service or parts of the service to register on the MLCSU eProcurement portal Bravo(Jaggaer) to register their interest and get access to the ITT and all the documentation.

Additional information: 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-transparency-requirements-guidance