Coproduction Services in Essex

{
    "tag": [
        "compiled"
    ],
    "id": "ocds-h6vhtk-06d02b-2026-07-21T16:14:46+01:00",
    "date": "2026-07-21T16:14:46+01:00",
    "ocid": "ocds-h6vhtk-06d02b",
    "initiationType": "tender",
    "parties": [
        {
            "id": "GB-PPON-PWVM-4844-NRQH",
            "name": "Essex County Council",
            "identifier": {
                "scheme": "GB-PPON",
                "id": "PWVM-4844-NRQH"
            },
            "address": {
                "streetAddress": "Market Road",
                "locality": "Chelmsford",
                "postalCode": "CM1 1QH",
                "country": "GB",
                "countryName": "United Kingdom",
                "region": "UKH36"
            },
            "contactPoint": {
                "name": "Lloyd Beeney",
                "email": "Lloyd.Beeney@essex.gov.uk"
            },
            "roles": [
                "buyer"
            ],
            "details": {
                "url": "https://www.link.com",
                "classifications": [
                    {
                        "id": "publicAuthoritySubCentralGovernment",
                        "scheme": "UK_CA_TYPE",
                        "description": "Public authority - sub-central government"
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
    ],
    "buyer": {
        "id": "GB-PPON-PWVM-4844-NRQH",
        "name": "Essex County Council"
    },
    "planning": {
        "noEngagementNoticeRationale": "Market engagement was undertaken during summer 2025 through a combination of soft market testing, supplier discussions, and a review of the existing supply landscape. This activity identified a healthy and competitive market, with a number of capable providers expressing interest and demonstrating both the capacity and capability to deliver the requirement. The engagement confirmed that the market is largely comprised of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), many of which bring strong subject matter expertise, agility, and relevant experience in delivering similar services."
    },
    "tender": {
        "id": "A023PA",
        "legalBasis": {
            "id": "2023/54",
            "scheme": "UKPGA",
            "uri": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents"
        },
        "title": "Coproduction Services in Essex",
        "description": "Essex County Council (the Authority) is seeking to procure a co-production and engagement service to support Adult Social Care (ASC). The contract will bring together existing co-production services into a single, unified model, providing a coordinated approach to co-production and engagement across Essex. The service will operate within the context of the Authority's statutory duties under the Care Act 2014, and its strategic commitment to person-centred, inclusive service design. Objectives The primary objective of the contract is to deliver an integrated co-production model that: * Maintains and strengthens engagement with adults, carers, and people with lived experience * Provides structured mechanisms, including locality networks, a lived experience forum, and engagement activities * Captures and utilises insight to inform policy, commissioning, and service improvement * Expands participation and improves representation, including seldom-heard groups * Supports the embedding of co-production within ASC governance, assurance, and decision-making processes The overall aim is to ensure a coherent, consistent and impactful approach to co-production, strengthening the influence of lived experience across Adult Social Care. Essex County Council is using the Open procurement system to manage this procurement process. Suppliers are strongly encouraged to familiarise themselves with the platform and its functionality before participating in this tender. Guidance and training materials can be accessed via the following link: Open Training: https://www.open-hub.org/how-to-guides/ Please note that all clarification questions and requests for additional information must be submitted through the formal clarification function within the Open system. Essex County Council will not accept or respond to clarification requests submitted via email or any other communication channel. All responses will be issued through the Open system to ensure transparency and equal treatment of all bidders. For clarification, the published contract notice value includes the anticipated value of the optional extension periods. For the avoidance of any further doubt, please note that Open procurement system uses ProClass to classify procurement opportunities instead of Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) contrary to the functionality in this notice. Therefore, the opportunity within the Open procurement system has been prepared using the following ProClass codes which represent the closest matches to the CPV code which this notice is based on: 111230 - Social Care",
        "status": "active",
        "items": [
            {
                "id": "1",
                "additionalClassifications": [
                    {
                        "scheme": "CPV",
                        "id": "85320000",
                        "description": "Social services"
                    },
                    {
                        "scheme": "CPV",
                        "id": "85323000",
                        "description": "Community health services"
                    },
                    {
                        "scheme": "CPV",
                        "id": "79315000",
                        "description": "Social research services"
                    }
                ],
                "deliveryAddresses": [
                    {
                        "region": "UKH3",
                        "country": "GB",
                        "countryName": "United Kingdom"
                    }
                ],
                "relatedLot": "1"
            }
        ],
        "value": {
            "amountGross": 1159200,
            "amount": 966000,
            "currency": "GBP"
        },
        "procurementMethod": "open",
        "procurementMethodDetails": "Open procedure",
        "mainProcurementCategory": "services",
        "aboveThreshold": true,
        "submissionMethodDetails": "https://open-uk.org/login",
        "submissionTerms": {
            "electronicSubmissionPolicy": "allowed",
            "languages": [
                "en"
            ]
        },
        "tenderPeriod": {
            "endDate": "2026-08-18T12:00:59+01:00"
        },
        "enquiryPeriod": {
            "endDate": "2026-08-05T12:00:59+01:00"
        },
        "awardPeriod": {
            "endDate": "2026-10-16T23:59:59+01:00"
        },
        "lots": [
            {
                "id": "1",
                "status": "active",
                "value": {
                    "amountGross": 1159200,
                    "amount": 966000,
                    "currency": "GBP"
                },
                "awardCriteria": {
                    "criteria": [
                        {
                            "type": "quality",
                            "name": "Quality criterion 1 (Lot 0)",
                            "description": "Quality - Technical (60%) Quality will be assessed to determine the extent to which bidders demonstrate a clear understanding of the service requirements and an effective approach to delivery. Evaluation will consider factors such as service delivery arrangements, stakeholder engagement, and the ability to achieve the desired outcomes detailed within the service specification. Given the nature of the services being procured, quality has been assigned a weighting of 60%.",
                            "numbers": [
                                {
                                    "number": 60,
                                    "weight": "percentageExact"
                                }
                            ]
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "quality",
                            "name": "Quality criterion 2 (Lot 0)",
                            "description": "Quality - Social Value (10%) Social Value will be evaluated in accordance with the Authority's Social Value requirements and methodology. Bidders will be invited to demonstrate how they will deliver additional economic, social and environmental benefits through contract delivery. Social Value has been assigned a weighting of 10%.",
                            "numbers": [
                                {
                                    "number": 10,
                                    "weight": "percentageExact"
                                }
                            ]
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "price",
                            "name": "Price criterion 1 (Lot 0)",
                            "description": "Price will be evaluated to assess overall value for money. Bidders will be required to submit pricing in accordance with the instructions set out in the procurement documents. Where a maximum contract value or budget is specified, tenders exceeding this limit will be deemed non-compliant and excluded from further consideration. Price has been assigned a weighting of 30%.",
                            "numbers": [
                                {
                                    "number": 30,
                                    "weight": "percentageExact"
                                }
                            ]
                        }
                    ]
                },
                "selectionCriteria": {
                    "criteria": [
                        {
                            "type": "economic",
                            "description": "Please note that the full details regarding the conditions of participation for this procurement are detailed in the tender documents. However, for ease of reference, the successful bidder must satisfy the published evaluation criteria in relation to the following requirements: Insurance: Bidders must either already hold or commit to obtain prior to the commencement of the contract, the levels of insurance cover indicated below: Employer's (Compulsory) Liability Insurance = PS5 million Public Liability Insurance = PS10 million E-procurement: Bidders must commit to adhere to the published requirements regarding the use of electronic ordering, e-mail invoices and credit. TUPE: The Authority considers that TUPE applies to this contract. Employee liability information is provided within the procurement documents."
                        },
                        {
                            "type": "technical",
                            "description": "Please note that the full details regarding the conditions of participation for this procurement are detailed in the tender documents. However, for ease of reference, the successful bidder must satisfy the published evaluation criteria in relation to the following requirements: Modern slavery - bidders must confirm whether they are a relevant commercial organisation for the purposes of Modern Slavery. Equality and Diversity - bidders must confirm whether they have been subject to any finding of unlawful discrimination by an Employment Tribunal, an Employment Appeal Tribunal or any other court (or in comparable proceedings in any jurisdiction other than the UK) in the last three (3) years. If this situation applies, the bidder is required to provide a written summary of the nature and outcome of the investigation. In addition, the bidder must explain what action (if any) they have taken to prevent unlawful discrimination from reoccurring. In addition, bidders who are intending to rely on sub-contractors to deliver this service must confirm whether they hold processes to check whether the sub-contractors satisfy the specified conditions of participation regarding equality and diversity. Health and safety - bidders must self-certify that they hold a Health and Safety policy which complies with current legislative requirements. In addition, bidders must confirm whether their organisation or any of its Directors or Executive Officers been in receipt of enforcement/remedial orders in relation to the Health and Safety Executive (or equivalent body) in the last 3 years. If the latter situation applies, the affected bidder is required to provide details of any enforcement/remedial orders served and give details of any remedial action or changes to procedures they have resultantly undertaken. The Authority will exclude bidder(s) that have been in receipt of enforcement/remedial action orders unless the bidder(s) can demonstrate to the Authority's satisfaction that appropriate remedial action has been taken to prevent future occurrences or breaches. In addition, bidders who are intending to rely on sub-contractors to deliver this service must confirm whether they hold processes to check whether any of the sub-contractors hold the requisite Health and Safety policies and if they are affected by the aforementioned issues regarding Health and Safety. Where the Bidder does not meet any of these requirements regarding Modern Slavery, Equality and Diversity, Environmental Management and Health and Safety, they have the opportunity to provide details of any mitigating/remedial actions which they have undertaken to address the issues. However, unless the Bidder can demonstrate to the Council's satisfaction that appropriate remedial action has been taken to prevent future occurrences or breaches, their bid will be excluded from this tender. Information governance - bidders must complete and satisfy the published requirements of the data protection compliance questionnaire for this procurement. Safeguarding - bidders must self-certify that they hold and will continue to adhere to the specified safeguarding requirements for this procurement, including but not limited to, safeguarding responsibility within the organisation, holding a safeguarding policy and the associated review date, holding a safe recruitment policy and safeguarding training. Equitable Access and Representation - bidders must self-certify that they meet the specified Equitable Access and Representation requirements in line with the Accessible Information Standard (AIS)."
                        }
                    ]
                },
                "contractPeriod": {
                    "startDate": "2026-12-01T00:00:00+00:00",
                    "endDate": "2029-03-31T23:59:59+01:00",
                    "maxExtentDate": "2031-03-31T23:59:59+01:00"
                },
                "hasRenewal": true,
                "renewal": {
                    "description": "There are 2 contract extensions, detailed below: Extension 1 Maximum duration: 1 year and 0 month Value ex VAT: PS 223,000 Extension 2 Maximum duration: 1 year and 0 month Value ex VAT: PS 223,000"
                }
            }
        ],
        "lotDetails": {
            "noLotsDivisionRationale": "Following consideration of the nature, proportionality and overall value of the requirement, it was determined that awarding the contract as a single lot represents the most appropriate procurement approach. The services had previously been conducted through separate contracts covering different service user cohorts. Bringing these requirements together into a single contract is expected to deliver greater value for money through economies of scale, reduced contract management overheads and a more streamlined service delivery model. The Authority considered whether dividing the requirement into lots would provide additional benefits; however, it was concluded that a single-lot approach would maximise efficiency, ensure consistency of service provision and provide the most economically advantageous solution. Therefore, the decision was taken not to subdivide the procurement into lots."
        },
        "documents": [
            {
                "id": "conflictOfInterest",
                "documentType": "conflictOfInterest",
                "description": "Not published"
            },
            {
                "id": "068837-2026",
                "documentType": "tenderNotice",
                "noticeType": "UK4",
                "description": "Tender notice on Find a Tender",
                "url": "https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/068837-2026",
                "datePublished": "2026-07-21T16:14:46+01:00",
                "format": "text/html"
            }
        ],
        "contractTerms": {
            "financialTerms": "Standard 30 day payment terms"
        },
        "riskDetails": "Local Government Reorganisation: Changes to local government structures, governance arrangements, statutory responsibilities, geographical boundaries, funding arrangements, or service delivery models arising from local government reorganisation may impact the Authority's requirements and the delivery of the services during the contract term. Fluctuating engagement levels: Variations in service demand during the contractual term."
    },
    "language": "en"
}