Procurement for the provision of Life Planning services for NHS England South

NHS England seeks to commission a provider of Life Planning services to meet the planning requirements for people with a learning disability and/or autistic spectrum conditions currently in secure hospital placements or children's Mental Health units. The service will deliver circa 100 life plans over an 18 month period.

NHS England South seek tender responses from providers who have the capability and capacity to undertake such a contract. This procurement is being carried out by NHS South, Central & West Commissioning Support Unit (SCWCSU) on behalf of the Commissioner. The Commissioner will be contracting for the Services using the National NHS Standard Contract (short form). Contracts will be for a term of 18 months and services are planned to commence from September 2017. The value of the service will be £250,000 over 18 months. At the commissioner's discretion, the contract may be extended for up to 18 months. Any life plans undertaken during this extension period will be by agreement with the commissioner and remuneration will be determined by the commissioner nearer the time.

Life planning is a person centred, strengths based form of planning that is especially suited to helping commissioners and providers understand and engage with people who have complex lives and needs and who have previously challenged services. The methodology is detailed and requires a significant commitment of time and energy to develop a high quality plan that is owned by all participants, but primarily the person and their family.

The key to understanding this approach is to comprehend and accept the underpinning values and principles that drive the process. Much of the process derives from a highly person centred citizenship based understanding of people's lives. This was effectively described in Keys to Citizenship by Dr Simon Duffy, published in 2003. The Keys to Citizenship are described under 7 headings:

NHS England seek responses from those with skills and experience in the provision of Life Planning services. Interested parties are invited to take part in an Invitation To Tender (ITT) process, based on the Open procedure, and designed to identify the Most Economically Advantageous Tender and therefore determine the incoming provider.

Further information in the additional text section.

Additional information: Interested providers will be able to view the tender opportunity via the 'current tenders' list on in-tend. https://in-tendhost.co.uk/scwcsu/aspx/Home

Or you can access the project on In-Tend directly using the following link: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/scwcsu/aspx/ProjectManage/408

In order to access the tender documentation you will need to 'express an interest' and register on the system. Bidders are required to respond to Selection Questionnaire & ITT questions directly within In-Tend and attach any requested documents separately to the placeholders provided.

The Services are healthcare services within the meaning and scope of Annex XIV of Directive 2014/24/EU ("the Directive") and Schedule 3 to the Public Contract Regulations 2015 ("the Regulations"). The tendering process will be conducted in accordance with the requirements and flexibilities provided by Articles 74 to 76 of the Directive, and Regulations 74 to 76 of the Regulations. The Authority will run a transparent tender process, treating all bidders equally. For the avoidance of doubt, the Authority will not be bound by the Regulations or the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union or any other regulations or legislation except for the specific parts or circumstances that apply to the procurement of these Services.

Neither the inclusion of a bidder selection stage, nor the use of any language or terms found in the Directive or Regulations, nor the description of the procedure voluntarily adopted by the Authority ("Open", "Restricted", "Competitive Procedure with Negotiation", "Competitive Dialogue" or any other description), nor any other indication, shall be taken to mean that the Authority intends to hold itself bound by the Directive or Regulations, save by the provisions applicable to services coming within the scope of Annex XIV of the Directive / Schedule 3 of the Regulations. The services are healthcare services falling within Schedule 3 to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ("the Regulations") which are not subject to the full regime of the Regulations, but is instead governed by the "Light Touch Regime" contained within Chapter 3, Section 7 of the Regulations (Regulations 74 to 77).