NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board Market Engagement Opportunities to deliver a Neurodivergence Support Service for Children, Young People (age 0-25 years) and their Families

Description

This is a Pipeline Notice pursuant to the Procurement Act 2023 (Act). NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Procurement Unit is issuing this Market Engagement Notice on behalf of NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board (ICB) who is seeking initial engagement and feedback from the market to establish potential interest to deliver a new Neurodivergence Support Service for Children, Young People (age 0-25 years) & Families across the counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Lot 1: A virtual Market Engagement event is taking place at 2pm to 3.30pm on Tuesday 15th July 2025 via Microsoft Teams. The purpose of the meeting will be for the ICB to present the service requirements to interested parties, discuss options and receive feedback on the feasibility of the scope and specification of the Service. Further information will be made available about this event in due course. Interested providers that are suitably qualified and experienced in delivering these services are requested to respond by 5pm on Tuesday, 8th July 2025. To express interest, and to register your attendance at the virtual Market Engagement Event, please register via the Atamis e-sourcing portal at the following hyperlink: https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome Please refer to Atamis Project Reference: C369825. The ICB reserves the right to reject expressions of interest that do not come in within this deadline. Please note those organisations that have expressed an interest will still be required to register for any future procurement and should not rely on their response to this Expression of Interest. NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICB is not bound to act on any information generated from the questionnaire, and participation does not automatically guarantee any standing with regards to any future procurement process adopted by NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICB. The ICB is seeking to issue one contract with a lead provider/contractor for the above services and therefore is encouraging providers in the market to consider collaboration and networking to deliver the specification. The contract will be for a period of 3 years with the option to extend for up to another 2 years at its discretion. The ICB currently envisages the contract will mobilise from the 1st April 2026 following a formal competitive process. (N.B.: all dates may be subject to change). The estimated contract value per annum is £600,000. The total lifetime value of the contract is £3,000,000 for the 3 year contract plus the optional extension period of 2 years. The indicative proposed minimum activity levels are per year are as follows: 1800 Advice, Information & Signposting Sessions; 120 Training/workshops for parent carers, young people and professionals; 30 1:1 Family and Child Support Sessions. Herefordshire and Worcestershire has seen an increase in children and young people with neurodivergent needs in line with national trends. Whilst some people will require lifelong support, research and feedback from CYP, families demonstrates many CYP can navigate daily life successfully if they and their families, receive support early. Families and young people have told the ICB that current support is inconsistent, often reliant on a diagnosis and is not responsive to changing needs of CYP as they develop. As a result, partners within Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care System, are working together to implement a shared vision of early intervention defined as the: 'Identification of need & person-centred, neuro-affirming support provided at the earliest opportunity to prevent the escalation of needs and enable positive outcomes for the young person.' The new support service will play a key role in delivery of this vision by providing early intervention for CYP and their families with neurodivergent presentations. Enabling them to understand their neurodivergent traits and develop strategies and tools to navigate and manage these in the family environment, education and other settings. The service will also have a role in working with wider professionals to develop neuroinclusive practices and environments. The provider(s) of the new service must be able to submit and flow data successfully to the ICB and provide assurance of this. There is no fixed view as to what the services will look like. It would be advisable for providers to collaborate and offer consistency across Herefordshire and Worcestershire to avoid any gaps/duplication in terms of service provision. For further details relating to the aforementioned services, please refer to the draft specification and other attachments section in the Documents (at Atamis Project Reference: C369825). This notice has been issued subject to the Procurement Act 2023 to establish market interest in the services here described. HOW TO EXPRESS INTEREST / REGISTER FOR MARKET ENGAGEMENT EVENT: To express interest and to register your attendance at the virtual Market Engagement Event, please register via Atamis e-sourcing portal https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome. Atamis Reference: C369825 Should providers have any queries, or having problems using the portal, they should contact Helpdesk at: Phone: 0800 9956035 E-mail: support-health@atamis.co.uk Providers are requested to answer the questions within the requirement section when registering interest (via https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome ref: C369825) by 17:00 hours on Tuesday, 8th July 2025. It should be noted that this is not a procurement exercise at this stage and participating organisations are responsible for their own costs. All details provided by NHS Herefordshire & Worcestershire ICB are in draft format, and the ICB reserves the right to change/amend any aspect of its requirement prior to any potential future procurement exercise. At this stage this is an engagement exercise only. This engagement exercise will be operated via electronic means using the internet. Details will be made available via documentation and information released on the Atamis portal. Additional information: HOW TO EXPRESS INTEREST / REGISTER FOR MARKET ENGAGEMENT EVENT: To express interest and to register your attendance at the virtual Market Engagement Event, please register via Atamis e-sourcing portal https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome. Atamis Reference: C369825 Should providers have any queries, or having problems using the portal, they should contact Helpdesk at: Phone: 0800 9956035 E-mail: support-health@atamis.co.uk Providers are requested to answer the questions within the requirement section when registering interest (via https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome ref: C369825) by 17:00 hours on Tuesday, 8th July 2025. It should be noted that this is not a procurement exercise at this stage and participating organisations are responsible for their own costs. All details provided by NHS Herefordshire & Worcestershire ICB are in draft format, and the ICB reserves the right to change/amend any aspect of its requirement prior to any potential future procurement exercise. At this stage this is an engagement exercise only. This engagement exercise will be operated via electronic means using the internet. Details will be made available via documentation and information released on the Atamis portal.