Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) to NHS England South East

NHS England South East, the Offices of the Police & Crime Commissioner (OPCCs) and Police Forces within the South East were seeking providers who have the capability and capacity to deliver Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) services for both adults (18 years and over) and children (under 18 years).

NHS England is the lead commissioner for these services.

This procurement was divided into 5 lots with the associated advertised contract values, covering the following areas:

Lot 1: Hampshire (including the Isle of Wight); £9,044,000 Lot 2: Kent; £9,044,000

Lot 3: Surrey; £9,044,000

Lot 4: Sussex; £9,044,000

Lot 5: Thames Valley (excluding Milton Keynes); £13,552,000

Due to its geography, there will be two SARC premises in Thames Valley. For all other areas, there will be one SARC premises.

The services within scope, include core SARC provision, including, SARC management, the provision of medical and forensic examinations (both acute and non-recent), crisis support and onward referral services for people who have experienced sexual assault. It should be noted that non-recent cases will not necessarily need to be undertaken at the (accredited) SARC site.

At present, there is considerable variation in service provision across the SARCs, not only with regard to the age and needs of service users, but also in relation to activity, service specification, and referral pathways.

The recommissioning exercise aims to increase equity of access and ensure a consistent and high standard of quality care to victims of sexual assault. The service will be delivered in line with current national standards, guidance and best practice, and at the same time meet the local needs of each Force area.

The Provider will ensure that services are delivered in an age-appropriate way for children and adults; all staff must meet the skills and competences commensurate with the role they are performing. The service will consider safeguarding, health and forensic requirements in line with current and relevant guidelines.

Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) services and therapeutic provision including counselling and talking therapies are out of scope. However, the SARC provider/s will work closely with these services and ensure service users are referred to onward provision as appropriate.

The contract term (for each lot) is planned to commence on 1st April 2025 and will be fixed for a duration of seven years.

This notice serves as an intention to award a contract under the competitive process of the Provider Selection Regime (PSR)

Additional information: The decision to award this contract in line with the Competitive Process was based on evaluation against the basic selection criteria (in the form of a Selection Questionnaire), which was assessed on a pass/fail basis, the PSR 5 key criteria, which were assessed on a 0-4 scale, with the below weightings.

Several tender questions were asked under each of the key criteria.

The provider(s) selected for award have been chosen as they passed the basic selection criteria and were the highest scoring bidder overall, against the key criteria.

After conducting a thorough Competitive Process, taking into account the key criteria and applying the basic selection criteria, NHS England South East is content that the providers' bids sufficiently met the key criteria and thus can proceed to contract award under the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023.

The evaluation panel was made up of NHS England SE Health & Justice Commissioning Team, including Nursing and Quality, Contracting and Finance, the Police, OPCCs, Public Health, Clinical Lead(s), and Service User(s).

The award decisions have been recommended by the NHS England Health & Justice South East Commissioner for SARCs.

Award decisions have been made by the NHS England South East Delivery Group, with key decision makers being:

Director of Specialised Commissioning and Health & Justice, South East Regional Team, NHS England Senior Finance Manager Health & Justice and OPD, NHS England

Head of Health and Justice for the South East

There was 1 potential declaration of conflict of interest made via the conflict of interest process and recorded accordingly. However, it was not deemed as an actual conflict, and whilst deemed as no risk to the procurement it was managed accordingly with appropriate mitigations.

This is a Provider Selection Regime (PSR) intention to award notice. The awarding of this contract is subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 do not apply to this award. The publication of this notice marks the start of the standstill period. Representations by providers must be made to the relevant authority by midnight on Wednesday 9th October. This contract has not yet formally been awarded; this notice serves as an intention to award a contract under the competitive process of the PSR.

This procurement has been carried out by NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit (SCW) on behalf of the Commissioners.

Written representations should be sent to scwcsu.procurement@nhs.net