Award

Specialised counselling for pregnancy-related bereavement and baby loss across Suffolk and north east Essex.

NHS SUFFOLK AND NORTH EAST ESSEX INTEGRATED CARE BOARD

This public procurement record has 2 releases in its history.

TenderUpdate

20 May 2025 at 07:52

Award

25 Apr 2025 at 09:21

Summary of the contracting process

The NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board is seeking to deliver a specialised counselling service for pregnancy-related bereavement and baby loss. The service will be available in Suffolk and north east Essex, targeting health services as the main procurement category. Officially awarded on 25th April 2025, the contract period is slated to run from 1st October 2025 until 31st September 2028, with no option to extend. The direct award process was employed, under the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023, reflecting an award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition. This contract aims to serve women, birthing persons, and their partners experiencing mild to moderate mental health distress, with services accessible through both professional and self-referral.

This tender presents significant opportunities for businesses in the health and counselling sectors, particularly those with expertise in perinatal mental health and bereavement support services. The successful bidder, Petals - The Baby Loss Counselling Charity, exemplifies how SMEs can contribute valuable services within the integrated care system. The requirements entail providing flexible counselling sessions with parent choice in delivery mode, which could encourage innovations in virtual and face-to-face mental health services. Businesses capable of offering specialised support in this sensitive area can explore further collaboration possibilities as the contract progresses, potentially expanding services within the prescribed framework. This contract focuses on quality over cost, indicating the importance placed on service effectiveness and safety in delivering mental health support.

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Notice Title

Specialised counselling for pregnancy-related bereavement and baby loss across Suffolk and north east Essex.

Notice Description

Intention is to commission a specialised bereavement counselling service that meets the needs of women or the birthing person and their partners, who are experiencing mild to moderate mental health distress because of pregnancy-related bereavement or baby loss. Access to the service will be provided via professional referral and self-referral. The service is accessible following a stillbirth, second trimester miscarriage, terminations for medical reasons, recurrent miscarriages, neonatal loss, birth trauma, pregnancy after loss, and early miscarriage (by professional referral only). A fixed number of counselling sessions will be provided either virtually or face-to-face based on parent choice.

Lot Information

Lot 1

The counselling service focusses on supporting women, birthing people and their partners who are experiencing mild to moderate mental health distress following a stillbirth, second trimester miscarriage, termination for medical reasons, recurrent miscarriages, neonatal loss, birth trauma, pregnancy after loss or early miscarriage (accessed only via professional referral). Access will be by professional referral or self-referral basis. The delivery model will involve a triage session followed (if required) by a fixed number of counselling sessions. Patient outcomes will be captured using Core10 as an assessment method, with a minimum key performance benchmark of 50% for Reliable Improvement. By providing support for mild to moderate mental following pregnancy-related loss support, this specialist service will become embedded in the commissioned perinatal mental health pathway within the integrated care system. Contract period will be 01/10/2025 to 31/09/2028, there will be no option to extend the contract. NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board are awarding the contract named within this notice under the Direct Award C process which is outlined within the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. The provider named in this notice is an existing provider and has been reviewed through a Key Criteria assessment to ensure the awarding body is satisfied with current performance and reasonably expects the provider to be able to satisfy the contract which is the subject of this notice. The contract which is the subject of this notice has not changed considerably when compared with the existing / previous contract delivered by the named provider. The ICB may wish to introduce additional services during the lifetime of the contract ("Contract modifications"). Such contract modifications will be contemplated where additional requirements are similar and or complementary to the services already included in the Specification, at any given time. Such expansion would be by the addition of services commissioned by the Authority as named in the Contract Notice. To this end, after the award of contract, there is a possibility that the contract may be varied as allowable in accordance with the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023.

Procurement Information

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 decision makers by 8th May 2025 (8 working days following publication of intention to award notice). They should be submitted in writing to procurement@snee.nhs.uk. This contract has not yet formally been awarded; this notice serves as an intention to award under the PSR. Award decision-makers: Richard Watson, Executive Director on the recommendation of the Mental Health Multi-Disciplinary Team. * No conflicts of interest, or potential conflicts of interest, were declared by any decision makes. The decision to award this contract in line with Direct Award Process C was based on evaluation against the five required key criteria as follows: * Quality and Innovation - Assured - SNEE ICB are assured that the provider is delivering a safe and effective service as required by the specification and contract they are currently delivering. This criterion was reviewed in line with the Quality Impact Assessment. * Value - Assured - SNEE ICB are assured that the provider is delivering value to the integrated care system and the cost of change would not be outweighed by the potential benefit of a new provider. * Integration, Collaboration and Service Sustainability - Assured - SNEE ICB are assured that the provider is positively impacting on the integrated care system through their integration and collaboration delivered as a requirement of the specification or alternative elements linked to the delivery. * Improving Access, Reducing Health Inequalities and Facilitating Choice - Assured - SNEE ICB are assured that the provider is meeting needs of the population to ensure equitable access and choice as required by the specification and contract. This criterion was reviewed in line with the Equality Impact Assessment. * Social Value - Part Assured - SNEE ICB are partly assured that the provider is delivering in line with the SNEE Green Plan, supporting with the implementation of carbon reduction and increase in initiatives which positively impact on the wider determinants of health. This criterion was reviewed in line with the Sustainability Impact Assessment.

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-050765
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/022944-2025
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Tender, Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
Tender Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Limited
Procurement Method Details
Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
SME

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

85 - Health and social work services


CPV Codes

85100000 - Health services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
£286,800 £100K-£500K

Notice Dates

Publication Date
20 May 20259 months ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
11 Mar 202511 months ago
Contract Period
Not specified - Not specified
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Cancelled
Awards Status
Active
Contracts Status
Active

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
NHS SUFFOLK AND NORTH EAST ESSEX INTEGRATED CARE BOARD
Contact Name
Caryn Akers
Contact Email
procurement@snee.nhs.uk
Contact Phone
Not specified

Buyer Location

Locality
IPSWICH
Postcode
IP1 2BX
Post Town
Ipswich
Country
England

Major Region (ITL 1)
TLH East (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLH6 Suffolk
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLH62 Ipswich
Delivery Location
TLH14 Suffolk CC, TLH34 Essex Haven Gateway

Local Authority
Ipswich
Electoral Ward
Gipping
Westminster Constituency
Ipswich

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
1
Supplier Name

PETALS - THE BABY LOSS COUNSELLING CHARITY

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

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The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts.

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