Cleaning Contract for the Drug and Alcohol Recovery Service (DARS) - Horden Resource Centre, Peterlee

The former Horden Resource Centre (address: Sunderland Road, Horden, Peterlee, SR8 4NL) is currently being refurbished as the new drug and alcohol recovery centre in East Durham. The work on the building is estimated to be completed in December 2021 and the Drug and Alcohol Recovery Service (DARS) will relocate from their current accommodation in Peterlee Health Centre to the building in Horden between January and March 2022.

A procurement exercise was due to be undertaken in 2021 for the DARS, with the intention being to incorporate the requirement for cleaning services for the recovery centres within the new service specification, rather than the current arrangement of Public Health contracting directly with cleaning service providers. However, as the DARS contract is likely to be eligible for the new NHS Provider Selection Regime that is due to come into effect in 2022, an extension to the DARS contract of 18 months to 31 July 2023 was recommended by the Health and Social Care Category Board in May 2021 and subsequently approved by Adult and Health Services Management Team in June 2021.

The request is to negotiate with an incumbent DARS Cleaning Provider to put in place a contract from the date that the DARS moves into Horden Recovery Centre to 31 July 2023 to align with the extension period for the DARS, after which point the responsibility for cleaning of recovery centres will be included within the service specification for the DARS. The previous provider for cleaning services for the East Durham recovery centre when it was located in Ridgemount House, Peterlee, has chosen not to quote this time due to the distance between their base and the site, therefore the alternative provider is Bettakleen who currently provide the DARS cleaning service to 2 other sites.