ENHT & HCT - Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Assessments

Description

This notice is an intention to award a contract under the competitive process.<br/><br/>Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust (HCT) and East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust (ENHT) have a backlog of children who require an Autism diagnostic assessment.<br/>The Trusts are working with the Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board to outsource some of these children and young people (CYP) in an effort to reduce their waiting time for an assessment and to enable the implementation of a revised diagnostic pathway.<br/>As such, the Trusts have undergone a compliant tender process to award an appropriately qualified company who can complete assessments for CYP over 5 years to assist with the backlog and provide ongoing assessments as required. The Trusts have sought a value for money, high quality service that will be responsive to the needs of the client.<br/>The opportunity is broken down into 4 lots; 2 for each Trust. Two lots require that the provider must have Consultant Paediatricians/Paediatricians as part of the team.<br/>It is expected that the assessments will be a combination of face to face and virtual assessments (face to face only for 5- and 6-year-olds).<br/>Robust contract management and good effective liaison with the Trust’s key contact will be required.<br/>The contract is anticipated to go live summer of 2024 and it is expected that the contract term will be for one year with the option to extend for a further +1 + 1 years.<br/><br/>Throughout the process it was stated the Trusts reserve the right to award a contract to more than one supplier to meet the capacity demands either at the tender stage or thereafter and that the Trusts would place orders with the most economically viable bidder(s) and their ability to meet the capacity required within each lot.<br/>No assurances were given from either Trust to any provider that they will get any number of orders or guaranteed a minimum or maximum value of orders. Lot 1: This notice is an intention to award a contract under the competitive process.<br/><br/>The Supplier will be required to carry out Autism diagnostic assessments on the cohort of children that is provided to them on behalf of the Trusts, at the scale required and within the timeframes of delivery.<br/>The Supplier will be required to outline where the assessments will take place, whether these will these be face to face Autism diagnostic assessments or virtual.<br/>The Supplier will be an expert provider of NICE compliant Autism Diagnostic assessments and will be familiar with all methods and diagnostic tools used. Part of the service will include providing feedback and a completed report to the parents and child/young person, as well as a copy of the final report to the family GP and HCT or ENHT Community Paediatrics team for their records.<br/>The Supplier will provide monthly updates in a format agreed by the Trusts, reporting on completed assessments, summarising the number of children diagnosed, those who have not attended their appointment and those whose assessment has resulted in a non-diagnosis.<br/>The Supplier shall performance monitor their activities/ services to demonstrate that the Services are achieved and where not achieved the extent of any shortfall is identified, reported and acted upon. Detailed supporting information will be made available to the Trusts should it be required, and all reports must be provided in the manner prescribed and in accordance with GDPR legislation, to ensure that the Trusts are able to access data as and when required.<br/>Upon contract engagement, each of the Trusts will undertake 5 Quality Assurance Assessments to assure standards of assessments and clinical reporting.<br/><br/>This is an existing service and provider.<br/>The service duration is not set and will depend upon the number of CYP cases needing assessment.<br/><br/>Approximate lifetime value of the contract: £0-£750,000. Additional information: The contract award criteria are specified in the procurement documents.