Mental Health Treatment Requirements (MHTRs) in the South East (Phase 2) on behalf of NHS England South East

NHS England South East (the Commissioner) seeks to commission Mental Health Treatment Requirements (MHTRs) Services across the South East. This forms part of the wider Community Sentence Treatment Requirements (CSTRs) Programme which is a partnership between the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England (NHSE), Public Health England (PHE) and His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS).

The CSTR Programme aims to develop pathways to enable and facilitate the increased use of all three treatment requirements:

ATRs and DRRs in the South East are outside the scope of this procurement, beyond the co-ordination of CSTRs for combined orders. However, there is an expectation that MHTR and ATR & DTR providers will work closely together in the best interests of the service user, especially where it can be identified that a combined order is the best outcome.

MHTR in the context of the CSTR programme is intended for the sentencing of individuals convicted of an offence(s) which has crossed the community order sentencing threshold and may be used as an alternative to short custodial sentences for individuals who may have range of mental health, personality disorder and psychological issues/vulnerabilities which do not require forensic or secondary care treatment.

The aims of the service are to:

Contracts will be for an initial term of 3 years, with a possible extension of a further three years, as defined and at the discretion of the Commissioner. Services are planned to commence on 01 July 2023.

The procurement exercise is split into 4 Lots with the corresponding 3 year initial term maximum contract values.

Lot 1: Southampton Courts (Crown and Magistrates Court) & Portsmouth Combined Court Centre (Crown and Magistrates Court) - £1,395,000

Lot 2: High Wycombe Magistrates Court - £615,000

Lot 3: Guildford Courts (Crown and Magistrates Court) - £900,000

Lot 4: Brighton Magistrates Court - £1,290,000

Interested providers will be able to view this opportunity via the 'Live Opportunities' list on the e-procurement system, Atamis, available on the following link: https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome

Additional information: Secondary MHTRs are outside the scope of this service specification and should be provided through locally commissioned frameworks for secondary care. Primary MHTRs are the sole focus of this service specification. Treatment should thereby be provided by a suitable trained and experienced team of practitioners, for individuals who do not meet the criteria for secondary mental health treatment.

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

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 are instead governed by the "Light Touch Regime" contained within Chapter 3, Section 7 of the Regulations (Regulations 74 to 77).

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 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 Contracting Authority intends to voluntarily observe the award decision notices provisions and 10 day standstill period described in Regulation 86 of the Regulations.