---
title: "Intensive Mentoring"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-0372c8"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-0372c8"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0372c8.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0372c8.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "KENT COUNTY COUNCIL"
published: "2022-10-04"
---

# Intensive Mentoring

Buyer: KENT COUNTY COUNCIL  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-0372c8

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## Summary

The Kent County Council has recently awarded a contract for the provision of Intensive Mentoring services to Project Salus CIC. This contract falls under the Health and social work services category, with a total value of £254,512. The procurement method used was a limited Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition. The decision to award the contract directly was justified due to extreme urgency caused by the Covid-19 outbreak, impacting the availability of providers and creating high demand for well-being services.

This contract for Intensive Mentoring services creates business opportunities for SMEs in the health and social work sector who specialize in providing one-to-one support to young people. Companies with experience in delivering personalised mentoring programmes and community outreach services would be well-suited to compete for similar contracts in the future. The direct award approach was chosen to ensure continuity of service delivery and leverage existing community relationships, highlighting the importance of established rapport and capacity considerations in the procurement process.

## Notice

Mentoring is delivered through Mentors (both paid and volunteers) who are positive role models who inspire, encourage and guide young people to achieve their potential. They offer personalised one-to-one support to help improve young people's lives. There are several features of effective mentoring programmes and relationships, including the duration of relationships, the quality of monitoring and support for mentors and allowing young people themselves to set the agenda. Some features of quality in mentoring relationships also may impact on outcomes, such as closeness, shared interests and role-modelling.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

Mentoring is delivered through Mentors (both paid and volunteers) who are positive role models who inspire, encourage and guide young people to achieve their potential. They offer personalised one-to-one support to help improve young people's lives. There are several features of effective mentoring programmes and relationships, including the duration of relationships, the quality of monitoring and support for mentors and allowing young people themselves to set the agenda. Some features of quality in mentoring relationships also may impact on outcomes, such as closeness, shared interests and role-modelling.

### Procurement Information

The coronavirus outbreak has unleashed unprecedented economic and health consequences, the full implications of which are still far from known. Covid-19 was only discovered in December 2019, and as recently as February 2020, there were hopes that the virus could be effectively contained within this country to minimise its effects. Had Covid-19 not developed, the HeadStart programme would have ended and Reconnect funding would have neither been allocated or necessary. Reasons of extreme urgency The decision taken by Cabinet on the 21 July 2022 to extend the Reconnect Programme to 31 March 2023 does not allow enough time to reprocure a new service ahead of the contract end in August 2022 or offer a desirable contract length for providers to wish to enter a procurement process. Commissioners advise that it would be more advantageous to enter a direct award for the following reasons: In the light of the Covid-19 outbreak, there are serious concerns about the high demand for well-being services. Disrupting the current provision and creating a gap in service provision due to mobilisation would further exacerbate this situation. Salus have long established roots and rapport with the local communities they serve with a strong focus on their volunteer mentors being part of both their community support and outreach services. It is this that has enabled them to continue delivering meaningful services when their primary face to face methods of delivery have ceased to be possible. Should an alternative provider be sourced, replicating this without the established relationships, would be extremely challenging, particularly if Covid restrictions were to be reapplied in the new year. With the potential need for TUPE a seven-month contract is undesirable to the market. A range of providers were contacted in a soft market engagement to ascertain if 1) there was an interest in the contract and 2) if the organisations currently had capacity to undertake a formal procurement. Providers were unanimous in saying that capacity was a real issue to engage in a procurement with four out of the five saying at this time they would not be able to spare the resource for such a short-term prospect.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/027831-2022 |
| Notice type | Award 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 |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 4 Oct 2022 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 31 Aug 2022 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £254,512 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Not specified |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | KENT COUNTY COUNCIL |
| Locality | MAIDSTONE |
| Post town | Rochester |
| Postcode | ME14 1XQ |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLJ South East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLJ4 Kent |
| ITL 3 | TLJ45 Mid Kent |
| Local authority | Maidstone |
| Electoral ward | Penenden Heath |
| Westminster constituency | Maidstone and Malling |
| Delivery location | TLJ4 Kent |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | PROJECT SALUS |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 85 - Health and social work services

### Codes

- 85000000 - Health and social work services

## Release History

- 4 Oct 2022 at 12:13 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/027831-2022

## Notice URLs

- http://www.kent.gov.uk

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-0372c8. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0372c8.json.