Adults Secondary Mental Health Services in West Essex

This Contract Award Notice follows the publication of a Voluntary Ex-Ante Transparency Notice (Ref: 2021/S 000-003229) published in Find A Tender on 17th February 2021. This Voluntary Ex-Ante Transparency Notice was intended to provide notice of the Contracting Authority's intention to award a contract for Adult Secondary Mental Health Services in West Essex to its incumbent provider, Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT). In line with best practice the Contracting Authority allowed a 10-day standstill period prior to entering into any contract with EPUT.

The agreed direction of travel in West Essex is to formally establish an Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) known locally as the One Health and Care Partnership (OHCP), with incumbent providers across the health and social care system working to deliver system transformation plans.

EPUT, as the incumbent provider for both Community Services, and Secondary Mental Health Services are a crucial partner in the development of these plans. Therefore any re-procurement of EPUT services at this time would likely destabilise the progress made in developing the ICP model.

Furthermore, ambitious deliverables were outlined for the mental health services in the NHS Long Term Plan (2019 - 2024); work has commenced with EPUT on a number of these deliverables and there is recognition that transformation will take time to embed. If a procurement for this service is undertaken there is a risk that current transformation schemes to ensure the LPT ambitions are met will be disrupted leading to non-achievement of these within West Essex.

The proposed contract will be for a period of 3-years, starting on 1st April 2021 and ending on 31st March 2024. The total value of the 3-year period is approximately £72m. It is recognised that in line with the requirements of the Mental Health Investment Standard (MHIS), additional investment is also required year-on-year over the next 3 years, which will increase the contract value by an additional percentage. This increase is not yet confirmed, therefore the value within this Notice is expected to be an upper value which allows for any additional investment required.