Official UK procurement notice
retender Greater Essex Individual Placement and Support for Severe Mental Illness (IPS for SMI)
Authority: Essex County Council (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionEssex County Council as lead commissioner is seeking to procure a service for Individual Placement and Support for Serious Mental Illness (IPS for SMI). The IPS for SMI is an employment support service integrated with secondary care mental health services to
assist people who experience severe mental health conditions to find paid work. ECC is the lead commissioner for this service on behalf of the three ICBs in Essex, namely Mid and South Essex (MSE), Hertfordshire and West Essex (HWE ), and Suffolk and North East Essex (SNEE). Please note that this service will not cover Hertfordshire or Suffolk. For the purposes of this procurement, this service is an ALL Essex service, which
includes the Unitary Authorities of Southend and Thurrock.
CPV: Health and social work services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£8,000,000
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published award criteria (3)
- Price
- Quality
- Social Value
- Price carries 30 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 3 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Light touch regime
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 1 Apr 2025, 13:00 BST
- Last source update
- 6 Mar 2026, 14:36 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 8 Jul 2025
- Authority reference
DN769504- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-015954- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-04fb48Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 23 May 2025, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
1 Apr 2025 → 6 Mar 2026 · 9 dates- Planning notice published1 Apr 2025, 13:00 BST
- Market engagement8 Apr 2025, 23:59 BST
Essex County Council are now planning to release the tender for this service after the abandonment of the previous tender (Reference: DN741370) following market feedback on the viability of the financial envelope and the targets. In response, the Council and ICB partners sought to engage with the market and understand how the service could be delivered in a viable way.
The key feedback we received was the target level was too high and the budget envelope was too low. In response, we have taken the feedback from providers around what would be deliverable and re-designed the contract ahead of re-releasing the tender.
Essex County Council ("the Council") would like to invite prospective providers to attend a pre-tender market engagement event on Tuesday 8th April 2025. Please note that this event will be conducted online via MS Teams at 1300-1400. If your organisation would like to attend the event, please email [email protected], confirming the name of your organisation and your representatives. Please ensure that you confirm your attendance by Monday 7th April 2025 by 1600.
A link to the Teams meeting will be sent by close of play Monday 7th.
Attendance or non-attendance does not bestow an advantage or disadvantage on any provider when the competitive tender process commences.
YOU MAY RESPOND IN AN EMAIL WITH YOUR NAME, ORGANISATION, AND EMAIL
- NAME
- ORGANISATION
- Tender notice published17 Apr 2025, 14:42 BST
- Submission deadline23 May 2025, 12:00 BST
- Award decision expected by8 Jul 2025, 23:59 BST
- Assessment summaries sent23 Jul 2025, 00:00 BST
- Standstill ends4 Aug 2025, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts1 Sept 2025, 00:00 BST
- Latest notice published231 days ago6 Mar 2026, 14:36 GMT
Notice history
10 events · 4 releases on Find a Tender · since 1 Apr 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published1 Apr 2025, 13:00 BSTUK2
- Tender notice published17 Apr 2025, 14:42 BSTUK4
- Published value published: £8,000,00017 Apr 2025, 14:42 BST
- Status changed to active17 Apr 2025, 14:42 BST
- Procurement method changed17 Apr 2025, 14:42 BST
- Deadline published: 23 May 2025, 12:00 BST17 Apr 2025, 14:42 BST
- Contract award notice published23 Jul 2025, 16:33 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete23 Jul 2025, 16:33 BST
- Contract signature expected1 Sept 2025, 23:59 BSTscheduled
- Contract details notice published6 Mar 2026, 14:36 GMTUK7
Routine re-releases (4)
- 2025-04: 1 release · 1 Apr 2025
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get Skills Employment & Training Ltd1 Sept 2025 – 31 Aug 2028 · up to 31 Aug 2030Extensions: The Council may at its sole discretion extend the duration of this Agreement for a further maximum period of up to twenty-four (24) calendar months commencing on the third anniversary of the Service Commencement Date. The Council may serve such extension notice(s) on as many occasions as it shall think fit provided that the duration of such extensions shall not in total exceed twenty-four (24) calendar months from the fifth anniversary of the Service Commencement Date. | £8,000,000 | 23 Jul 2025 | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 1 · Get Skills Employment & Training Ltd
- Signed
- 1 Oct 2025
- Value
- £7,987,857
- Period
- 1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sept 2028 · up to 30 Sept 2030 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- The Council may at its sole discretion extend the duration of this Agreement for a further maximum period of up to twenty-four (24) calendar months commencing on the third anniversary of the Service Commencement Date. The Council may serve such extension notice(s) on as many occasions as it shall think fit provided that the duration of such extensions shall not in total exceed twenty-four (24) calendar months from the fifth anniversary of the Service Commencement Date.
- Options
- As published in schedule 1 specification: 5.5.3 The service may expand over the life of the contract. Should this opportunity arise any potential increases to annual targets and associated additional funding will be discussed with Provider during the contract term.
1 agreed KPI: Not Applicable - Light Touch Regime
- Not Applicable - Light Touch Regime
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6final-stage tenders | 4 | 1 | — |
Who bid
- wonGET SKILLS EMPLOYMENT & TRAINING LTD · Greater London
- did not winQUALITY CARE RESOURCING LIMITED · East of England
- did not winBRIGHT IDEA STAFFING LIMITED · East of England
- did not winWATERFIELDS HEALTHCARE LTD · Greater London
- did not winMENTAL HEALTH MATTERSVCSE · North East England
- did not winESSEX PARTNERSHIP UNIVERSITY NHS FOUNDATION TRUST · East of England
Bidders as named on the Procurement Act 2023 award notice. “Won” means the bidder holds an award on this notice.
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
6 commercial parties on the notice · 1 awarded- BRIGHT IDEA STAFFING LIMITEDBidder / tenderer
- ESSEX PARTNERSHIP UNIVERSITY NHS FOUNDATION TRUSTBidder / tenderer
- GET SKILLS EMPLOYMENT & TRAINING LTDAwarded supplier
- MENTAL HEALTH MATTERSBidder / tenderer
- QUALITY CARE RESOURCING LIMITEDBidder / tenderer
- WATERFIELDS HEALTHCARE LTDBidder / tenderer
Official documents & specifications (4)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender