Scope
Reference
P00005099
Description
Introduction
Portsmouth City Council (the Council) is undertaking preliminary market engagement (PME) concerning the provision of care and support in Extra Care Housing.
The Council needs to re-tender the existing services so are undertaking market engagement to inform the development of the commercial and procurement strategy, that aligns with both the Council's objectives and the needs of the service users.
The Council requires the provision of 'extra care', a housing scheme designed to offer a safe, private and secure environment for residents, allowing them to maintain their independence by having their own home whilst benefiting from having staff on hand 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The current cost for delivering these services across four Extra Care facilities is approximately £3.5million per annum. However, this value can fluctuate on an annual basis dependent on existing occupancy levels and the support needs of the residents. Additionally, each contract will be subject to an increase in rates, which will be reviewed on an annually basis and has typically been based on the Retail Price Index.
At present one provider manages all four of the sites, though the Council will be investigating options to split these sites into two distinct lots with two providers being responsible for the extra care facilities -
• Lot 1 - Brunel Court, Caroline Square and Milton Village - £2.19M per annum
• Lot 2 - Maritime House - £1.27M per annum
It is envisaged the contracts shall commence on the 1st December 2025 for an initial 4-year term, extendable by a further 4-years in increments to be agreed at the time by both parties.
The total value of the opportunity will be in the region of £35M, when including all extension options, assuming each Extra Care facility remains in maximum occupation, the likely support needs of the residents and including any potential inflationary uplifts. The Council estimate the total spend over the maximum extension period for each lot to be -
• Lot 1 - £22M
• Lot 2 - £13M
The procurement process will commence in June 2025 with award targeted for August 2025 to allow for mobilisation and commencement of services on 1st December 2025.
Background
Extra care housing schemes in the city are a specialist sheltered housing provision designed to offer a safe, private and secure environment. Residents are able to maintain their independence by having their own home whilst having the benefits of having staff on hand 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The care staff can be used to provide either planned support or ad-hoc support in response to emergencies or Tunstall calls (Tunstall is a call system that is placed in each flat and allows residents to call for assistance at any time of the day)
The care and support services in these schemes are currently delivered by Radis Community Care (GP Homecare Ltd company).
The aim of the care service is to promote and maximise independence for the residents. There are 4 extra care schemes across Portsmouth as follows -
- Brunel Court - located in Nuffield Place, 55 apartments.
- Milton Village - located in Moorings Way, incorporates 65 apartments built as a complex. This is over 3 separate buildings - Crane Court (12 apartments) Osprey Court (16 apartments) and Brent Court (37 apartments).
- Caroline Square - located in Portsea, 43 apartments.
- Maritime House - located in Northern Parade, 80 apartments.
The landlord of all 4 schemes is Housing21 and this does not form part of this PME exercise or the subsequent tender.
The personal care hours into the extra care schemes fluctuates on a weekly basis depending on the individual's needs, there is also a fixed element linked to every scheme which is used for the ad-hoc support such as responding to Tunstall calls, extra support for residents or assisting with mealtimes in communal areas.
CONTRACT DURATION & TERMS
The Council envisages entering two separate 4-year contracts, extendable by a further 4-years in increments to be agreed at the time by both parties. The full scope of the services will formally commence on the 1st December 2025.
The Council is currently reviewing options for contract terms and conditions and will be seeking input from the market via this preliminary market engagement process.
TUPE
This is a re-procurement of an existing outsourced service and therefore will be subject to TUPE. As such there will be a TUPE transfer of the incumbent's 'in scope employees' as part of this contract. It will be the providers' responsibility to manage any TUPE / Pension implications.
ENVISAGED PROCUREMENT PROCESS &PROGRAMME
The Council are considering running the procurement process using an Open Procedure under the Procurement Act 2023, though the Council could use a single stage Competitive Flexible Procedure to incorporate additional flexibilities in respect of the approach to evaluating returns i.e. the inclusion of interviews, presentations etc.
Open Procedure
The Council will issue a Tender Notice under the Procurement Act 2023 outlining the key details and requirements, including the overview of the procurement process & associated programme, value of the opportunity, scope of the contracts, lotting options & associated contractual terms, minimum levels of technical experience & accreditations and evaluation & award criteria.
The Open Procedure is a single-stage competitive process where all interested suppliers may submit a tender, and there is no pre-qualification stage.
As part of this process, suppliers will be required to meet Conditions of Participation before their tender submissions are assessed. These conditions will relate to the supplier's legal and financial standing and technical ability to deliver the contract, which is likely to include the successful delivery of current and/or previous contracts of a similar value and scope as the Council's.
In addition, all suppliers and proposed subcontractors involved with the service delivery will be subject to assessment against the mandatory and discretionary exclusion grounds.
Mandatory exclusion grounds include, but are not limited to, convictions for offences such as fraud, bribery, terrorism, and cartel activity. Where a supplier meets a mandatory exclusion ground, the Council is legally required to exclude them from the procurement process.
Discretionary exclusion grounds may include issues such as poor past performance, conflicts of interest, or evidence of unethical conduct. The Council will assess these on a case-by-case basis and may choose to exclude a supplier where there is a significant risk to the integrity or delivery of the contract where insufficient evidence is provided in relation to self-cleaning.
Any interested suppliers will need to register on the governments Central Digital Platform for the Council to review any potential grounds for exclusion and a debarment check. The Central Digital Platform is live and information on how suppliers can register can be found using the following link - Suppliers: How to register your organisation and first administrator on Find a Tender in three easy steps (HTML) - GOV.UK.
Only those suppliers who successfully meet the Conditions of Participation and are not subject to exclusion grounds will have their tenders evaluated against the published award criteria, which will be based on the Most Advantageous Tender (MAT) principle, considering both quality and cost.
Suppliers will be required to provide responses to published quality assessment questions in delivery of the services under any of the specific lotting options, which the Council will undertake a review of, including qualitative and pricing responses. The Council is considering an evaluation percentage split focused on quality of service, which may include for a 70/30 ratio in favour of quality.
The Council envisages undertaking the future procurement process in line with the following draft summary procurement programme, however it should be noted that the dates below are purely indicative and may be subject to future change.
• Issue Tender Notice - 25th June 2025
• Issue procurement documents via In-tend - 25th June 2025
• Clarification deadline - 18th July 2025, 23:59
• Tender submission deadline - 25th July 2025 14:00
• Contract Award Notice issued - 15th August 2025
• Completion of standstill period - 28th August 2025
• Contract Details Notice issued - 29th August 2025
• Commencement of services - 1st December 2025
PROCUREMENT ADMINISTRATION
The Council will administrate the procurement process using the Council's e-sourcing system, In-tend, which will be used for:
• Access to and issue of procurement information and documentation
• Pre-tender submission clarification requests and response
• Tender submission
• Tender opening & access to responses
• Post-tender submission clarification requests and response
• Award decision notification and feedback
The In-tend system can be accessed free of charge via the following web link:
Total value (estimated)
- £35,000,000 excluding VAT
- £42,000,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 1 December 2025 to 30 November 2029
- Possible extension to 30 November 2033
- 8 years
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 85144000 - Residential health facilities services
- 85311000 - Social work services with accommodation
- 85320000 - Social services
Contract locations
- UKJ31 - Portsmouth
- UKJ35 - South Hampshire
Engagement
Engagement deadline
30 May 2025
Engagement process description
OVERVIEW
The Council is undertaking a PME exercise to gather insights from the market ahead of a future procurement process to award a contract for delivery of the services summarised within the 'Scope' section of this PME Notice.
The procurement process will commence in June 2025 with award targeted for August 2025 to allow for mobilisation and commencement of services on 1st December 2025.
This engagement aims to assess the markets interest in the contract, explore commercial models, and understand the markets capability and capacity. By engaging with suppliers, the Council seeks to ensure that any potential procurement strategy is well-informed, commercially viable, and aligned with industry best practices.
Additionally, this process will help identify potential risks, opportunities, and ensuring the successful and efficient delivery of any potential contract.
The Preliminary Market Engagement exercise shall comprise of a Microsoft Teams meeting outlining the current service delivery, the Councils expectations for the future delivery of the service, procurement strategy and submission and subsequent analysis of engagement questionnaires.
To assist suppliers with understanding the purpose of the questionnaire and effectively answer the questions, the Council will provide an overview of the questionnaire at the Microsoft Teams session.
Following the Microsoft Teams meeting the Council will issue the market engagement questionnaire via In-tend.
The Microsoft Teams session will take place at the 21st May 2025 at 13:30.
The questionnaire will be published following this session and should be completed and returned by 30th May 2025 23:59.
PME PRINCIPLES
The Council wishes to engage with suppliers who have experience in undertaking care and support in Extra Care Housing. In summary, the preliminary market engagement objectives are to:
• Share Information:
o Current requirements, demand, and cost models,
o Envisaged contracting strategy, including duration and extension options,
o Envisaged timeline,
o Envisaged commercial and management model.
• Review and Understand:
o Market capacity and capability to deliver the future requirements,
o Market interest,
o Ability to manage likely TUPE transfer considerations,
o Costing options, pressures, and budget.
• Inform the development of the procurement strategy:
o The contract delivery strategy,
o The scope of the contract,
o Commercial model,
o Procurement strategy, including programme, conditions of participation, tender award criteria,
o Budget.
The key areas the Council are seeking feedback from the market through gathering information through the engagement questionnaire are -
• Market Capacity
o Geographic Coverage: where suppliers currently operate in relation to the Council's location.
• Market Capability
o Envisaged Scope: understand and review the scope
• Market Commercial Perspectives
o Pricing Models and Budget: review the market norms on how such services are costed over term of contract, sufficiency of budget.
o Contractual and Legal Considerations: review of market norms in respect of the suggested contractual model, term, and other options.
REQUESTS TO PARTICPATE IN PME INSTRUCTIONS
Suppliers interested in taking part in Microsoft Teams session or Questionnaire Guidance meeting on Microsoft Teams are required to complete the following forms which are accessible via In-tend:
• the Participation Request form
• Conflicts of Interest Declaration
Suppliers are required to return the forms by no later than 20th May 2025 at 12:00 and submit via In-tend correspondence function.
MICROSOFT TEAMS SESSION
The Council shall be holding an online Microsoft Teams session on the 21st May at 13:30. The draft agenda for this event is as follows:
• Welcome and introductions,
• PCC Presentation
• Questions and answers
Suppliers are required to complete and return the request for participation form which can be downloaded from the Council's intend portal and submit via In-tend correspondence function.
MARKET ENGAGEMENT QUESTIONNAIRE GUIDANCE
A word version of the questionnaire will be provided after the completion of this meeting through In-tend. Suppliers are encouraged but not obliged to complete the questionnaire.
Completing the online questionnaire will help the Council to understand the delivery options of the contract provision and subsequently, the structure of the procurement to ensure it can be carried out by the market and optimises the participation of suppliers, including SMEs.
The Council are requesting the questionnaire is completed by 30th May 2025 by 23:59, any responses after this deadline may not be considered in the PME report. Completed questionnaires are to be submit via In-tend through making a return against the In-tend PME stage.
PME ANALYSIS & REPORTING
The Council reserves the right to contact suppliers following submission of questionnaires in order to gain clarification and understanding of the responses. This will be via In-tend correspondence.
Any suppliers who submit a completed questionnaire will be sent a copy of the draft PME Feedback Report, which will accompany the procurement process documentation. This report shall provide a summary of the overall trends in the response received against the areas of consideration.
The Council are aiming to have collated the PME feedback by 4th June 2025 to issue the draft report via Intend correspondence for suppliers to review.
PME CLARIFCIATION PROTOCOLS
Any queries, questions or clarifications regarding this preliminary market engagement exercise must be made in writing using the project correspondence facility on the In-tend system.
Any questions and answers from either event will be recorded via a separate clarification log and will be published to Intend for all suppliers to access, unless deemed commercially sensitive. The Council will be recording the Microsoft Teams meeting and will subsequently make this available as part of the PME brief via In-tend.
For full details of the clarification process suppliers should review Appendix I - Intend Guidance accessible via In-tend.
GENERAL
Suppliers should note that there is no obligation to take part in this exercise and that if they do not take part, it will not preclude them from any subsequent related procurement process.
Engaging suppliers will not receive preferential treatment in any subsequent tender process, and this is in no way an indication of the selection of any organisation or a guarantee of future work.
Completing the survey will help the Council to review the scope of service to allow the optimal means for suppliers, including SMEs, to participate in any subsequent procurement.
Participation
Particular suitability
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)
Submission
Publication date of tender notice (estimated)
25 June 2025
Procedure
Special regime
Light touch
Contracting authority
Portsmouth City Council
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PCNL-5714-PRZV
Civic Offices, Guildhall Square
Portsmouth
PO1 2AL
United Kingdom
Region: UKJ31 - Portsmouth
Organisation type: Public authority - sub-central government