Additional operational resource for Care Act assessments and Capital Drop assessments

Essex County Council ("the Council") is inviting prospective providers to participate in a soft market test in preparation for a proposed sub-threshold procurement opportunity to secure an external provider to conduct Care Act assessments and Capital assessments ("assessments") on behalf of the Council under delegated authority.

This soft market test is designed to secure market feedback on the current commissioning intentions for this service. However, the Council currently envisages that this service will be conducted as a six (6) month pilot from circa 1st May 2024, subject to the finalised procurement timetable including the mobilisation requirements. The successful provider will be required to provide suitably qualified, experienced and registered social workers to undertake an initial batch of 250 assessments. Please be advised that the scope of any further work following the conclusion of this pilot would be subject to a formal internal review of the pilot including the requisite governance approval.

The Council reserves the right to refine the scope of the procurement following the market engagement for this project. Therefore, the final scope of the procurement including but not limited to the contract duration and confirmed procurement timetable will be published in the corresponding Contract Notice prior to the formal launch of the procurement.

Further details of the Council's current commissioning intentions for this service and a suite of soft market test questions can be located via the Council's e-tendering portal, ProContract: https://procontract.due-north.com/

Please note that you will need to undertake the registration process to secure a user account to access the soft market test questionnaire on ProContract. However, please be advised that the registration process is free of charge and provides access to all the current and forthcoming procurement opportunities for Essex County Council alongside several other public sector organisations.

Please note that the deadline for the soft market test responses will be 17:00 on Friday 12th January 2024 and all responses must be submitted via the online questionnaire in ProContract.

Additional information:

For the avoidance of any further doubt, please be advised that the specified scope and budget of the service within this notice is provided for indicative purposes only due to the requirements of the online form and remains subject to confirmation by the Council. Likewise, the inclusion of any dates for the proposed procurement opportunity are provided for indicative purposes only and the Council reserves the right to amend this information following confirmation of the procurement timetable for this project.

Full details of the structure of this procurement and associated timetable will be detailed within the corresponding Contract Notice in due course. However, please note that the specified response deadline within this notice relates to the submission requirements for the soft market test only.

Further details regarding the current commissioning proposals for this service alongside a copy of the soft market test questionnaire can be accessed via the Council's e-tendering portal:

https://procontract.due-north.com/