Portsmouth City Council - Care and Support in Extra Care Housing - 2025

Description

Portsmouth City Council ('the council') is inviting tenders from suitably qualified Providers for the provision of care and support in Extra Care Housing. 
The council is using the open procedure for the procurement of this contract. 
This Procurement procedure has been selected as an appropriate, proportionate, and practical means for securing the Most Advantageous Tender, in consideration of the nature, complexity, and value of the contract.
The Council is responsible for four extra care schemes in the city. Extra care housing schemes in the city are a specialist sheltered housing provision designed to offer a safe, private and secure environment. Residents are able to maintain their independence by having their own home whilst having the benefits of having staff on hand 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The care staff deliver planned care, ad-hoc care support in response to emergencies or Tunstall calls (Tunstall is a call system that is placed in each flat and allows residents to call for assistance at any time of the day), and support with delivering and attending activities.
The current cost for delivering services across these four Extra Care schemes is approximately £3.5 million per annum. However, this value can fluctuate on an annual basis dependent on existing occupancy levels and the support needs of the residents. The care and support services in these schemes are currently delivered by Radis Community Care (GP Homecare Ltd company).
The size of the block hours allocated to each scheme can also affect the value. Additionally, each contract will be subject to an increase in rates, which will be reviewed on an annually basis and has typically been based on the Retail Price Index. 
The Council are seeking two providers for two separate Lots - 
Lot 1 - Brunel Court, Caroline Square and Milton Village - £2.2M per annum (1417 hours of planned care in total, plus block hours)
Lot 2 - Maritime House £1.4M per annum (960 hours of planned care, plus block hours)
The contract values included on each lot above are based on current levels of demand and the previous year's spend. However, the value of the opportunity can fluctuate dependent on the needs of the individuals, occupancy and the size of the block. 
The contract term for both lots will be for 4 years with options to extend in increments to be agreed up to a maximum of 6 years.  
The total value of the opportunity will be in the region of £45.5M, when including all extension options, assuming each Extra Care facility remains in maximum occupation, the likely support needs of the residents and including any potential inflationary uplifts. The Council estimate the total spend over the maximum extension period for each lot to be -
•	Lot 1 - £27.9M
•	Lot 2 - £17.6M
However, these figures do not include the value of any contingency options, see other information on this notice for further details.
 The landlord of all 4 schemes is Housing21. The are 4 extra care schemes across Portsmouth as follows - 
•	Brunel Court - located in Nuffield Place, 55 apartments.
https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-11428753194
•	Milton Village - located in Moorings Way, incorporates 65 apartments built as a complex. This is over 3 separate buildings - Crane Court (12 apartments) Osprey Court (16 apartments) and Brent Court (37 apartments).
https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-11428753457
•	Caroline Square - located in Portsea, 43 apartments. 
https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-11428753352
•	Maritime House - located in Northern Parade, 80 apartments. 
https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-11428753249
Two of the four schemes are currently rated 'Inadequate' by CQC. Key areas of concern identified in CQC inspections and noted in contract monitoring relate to: 
•	Staffing - some behaviours not person centred and not in line with dignity/ organisational values 
•	Medication systems concerns about processes, governance and staff competence 
•	Evidencing supporting service users safely: recognising risks and assessing appropriately- e.g. falls, nutritional needs, lack of knowledge and appropriate application of MCA. 
•	Lack of evidence of service users being involved in their care/ being given opportunity to provide feedback 
•	Lack of evidence of learning and embedding learning from incidents 
•	Leadership - governance systems not adequate, failing to pick up issues identified, including training, medication errors, deficits in care planning/ risk assessment.  
'Turnaround' Period and Funding
The contract allows for a nine month 'turnaround' period to address the existing issues in Extra Care in Portsmouth. The Council will pay a maximum of £75,000 per Lot to support turnaround of the Services, which are expected to be completed within nine months of the start of the contract. 
An independent third-party provider will be commissioned by the Council to conduct a 2-day mock CQC inspection at each individual scheme within two weeks of the start of the Contract. The same provider will then be asked to complete an identical audit at the end of the nine-month turnaround period. 
If the mock CQC inspection at the end of the nine-month period shows no improvement, the Service Provider will be given an additional three-month period to make improvements, and a further mock CQC inspection will be commissioned at the end of this period.
If at the end of the three-month turnaround extension period no improvement has been made, the Service Provider shall be considered to have defaulted under the terms of the Contract, as described in the Terms and Conditions.
Payment of turnaround monies will only be made where the audit shows that the mock CQC inspection outcome is at least one standard higher than at the start of the turnaround period. For example, if the mock CQC inspection conducted in the first two weeks gave an outcome of 'Inadequate', the final inspection would need to show an outcome of at least 'Requires Improvement' to be payable.
Block Hours
A block number of hours is allocated per scheme to cover additional staffing requirements for Background Care and Support. The block will be set at 630 hours for Lot 1 (which includes 3 Schemes the hours may be used flexibly across the Schemes as required to meet the needs of each Scheme) and 294 hours for lot 2 for the duration of the turnaround period for both lots. After this time and with supporting evidence the Service Provider in discussion with the Service Purchaser is expected to review and right-size the block hours to a level that can support the safe delivery of care within a scheme. Evidence may include but will not be limited to:
•	The volume of ad hoc support provided
•	The volume of responses to emergency calls
•	The provision of activities
The hourly rate (which applies to the block and any planned care commissioned under the Contract) is capped initially at £21.50, and may thereafter be reviewed in accordance with the terms of the contract.
Procurement Timetable and Bidders Briefing
The Council are intending to follow the subsequent Procurement Programme.
• Issue Tender Notice - 25th June 2025
• Issue procurement documents via In-tend - 25thJune 2025
• Provider bidders briefing - 2nd July 2025 at 12:00 
• Clarification deadline - 18th July 2025, 23:59
• Tender submission deadline - 25th July 202514:00
• Contract Award Notice issued - 15th August 2025
• Completion of standstill period - 28th August 2025
• Contract Details Notice issued - 29th August 2025
• Commencement of services - 1st December 2025
A provider bidders briefing will be held on Wednesday 2nd July at 12:00 (midday) via Microsoft Teams. Interested providers can access the meeting via the below:
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19:meeting_YTQwZGRmZTMtNTQzZi00YWExLTk1YWQtMDc4Yjk5MzYzYzY5@thread.v2/0?context={"Tid":"d6674c51-daa4-4142-8047-15a78bbe9306","Oid":"4c1d9c16-0e99-45a0-b378-c09939ce0b8a"}