Scope
Reference
P00005115
Description
Portsmouth City Council ('the council') is inviting tenders from suitably qualified Providers for the provision of care and support in Extra Care Housing.
The council is using the open procedure for the procurement of this contract.
This Procurement procedure has been selected as an appropriate, proportionate, and practical means for securing the Most Advantageous Tender, in consideration of the nature, complexity, and value of the contract.
The Council is responsible for four extra care schemes in the city. 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 deliver planned care, ad-hoc care 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), and support with delivering and attending activities.
The current cost for delivering services across these four Extra Care schemes is approximately £3.5 million per annum. However, this value can fluctuate on an annual basis dependent on existing occupancy levels and the support needs of the residents. The care and support services in these schemes are currently delivered by Radis Community Care (GP Homecare Ltd company).
The size of the block hours allocated to each scheme can also affect the value. 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.
The Council are seeking two providers for two separate Lots -
Lot 1 - Brunel Court, Caroline Square and Milton Village - £2.2M per annum (1417 hours of planned care in total, plus block hours)
Lot 2 - Maritime House £1.4M per annum (960 hours of planned care, plus block hours)
The contract values included on each lot above are based on current levels of demand and the previous year's spend. However, the value of the opportunity can fluctuate dependent on the needs of the individuals, occupancy and the size of the block.
The contract term for both lots will be for 4 years with options to extend in increments to be agreed up to a maximum of 6 years.
The total value of the opportunity will be in the region of £45.5M, 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 - £27.9M
• Lot 2 - £17.6M
However, these figures do not include the value of any contingency options, see other information on this notice for further details.
The landlord of all 4 schemes is Housing21. The are 4 extra care schemes across Portsmouth as follows -
• Brunel Court - located in Nuffield Place, 55 apartments.
https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-11428753194
• 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).
https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-11428753457
• Caroline Square - located in Portsea, 43 apartments.
https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-11428753352
• Maritime House - located in Northern Parade, 80 apartments.
https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-11428753249
Two of the four schemes are currently rated 'Inadequate' by CQC. Key areas of concern identified in CQC inspections and noted in contract monitoring relate to:
• Staffing - some behaviours not person centred and not in line with dignity/ organisational values
• Medication systems concerns about processes, governance and staff competence
• Evidencing supporting service users safely: recognising risks and assessing appropriately- e.g. falls, nutritional needs, lack of knowledge and appropriate application of MCA.
• Lack of evidence of service users being involved in their care/ being given opportunity to provide feedback
• Lack of evidence of learning and embedding learning from incidents
• Leadership - governance systems not adequate, failing to pick up issues identified, including training, medication errors, deficits in care planning/ risk assessment.
'Turnaround' Period and Funding
The contract allows for a nine month 'turnaround' period to address the existing issues in Extra Care in Portsmouth. The Council will pay a maximum of £75,000 per Lot to support turnaround of the Services, which are expected to be completed within nine months of the start of the contract.
An independent third-party provider will be commissioned by the Council to conduct a 2-day mock CQC inspection at each individual scheme within two weeks of the start of the Contract. The same provider will then be asked to complete an identical audit at the end of the nine-month turnaround period.
If the mock CQC inspection at the end of the nine-month period shows no improvement, the Service Provider will be given an additional three-month period to make improvements, and a further mock CQC inspection will be commissioned at the end of this period.
If at the end of the three-month turnaround extension period no improvement has been made, the Service Provider shall be considered to have defaulted under the terms of the Contract, as described in the Terms and Conditions.
Payment of turnaround monies will only be made where the audit shows that the mock CQC inspection outcome is at least one standard higher than at the start of the turnaround period. For example, if the mock CQC inspection conducted in the first two weeks gave an outcome of 'Inadequate', the final inspection would need to show an outcome of at least 'Requires Improvement' to be payable.
Block Hours
A block number of hours is allocated per scheme to cover additional staffing requirements for Background Care and Support. The block will be set at 630 hours for Lot 1 (which includes 3 Schemes the hours may be used flexibly across the Schemes as required to meet the needs of each Scheme) and 294 hours for lot 2 for the duration of the turnaround period for both lots. After this time and with supporting evidence the Service Provider in discussion with the Service Purchaser is expected to review and right-size the block hours to a level that can support the safe delivery of care within a scheme. Evidence may include but will not be limited to:
• The volume of ad hoc support provided
• The volume of responses to emergency calls
• The provision of activities
The hourly rate (which applies to the block and any planned care commissioned under the Contract) is capped initially at £21.50, and may thereafter be reviewed in accordance with the terms of the contract.
Procurement Timetable and Bidders Briefing
The Council are intending to follow the subsequent Procurement Programme.
• Issue Tender Notice - 25th June 2025
• Issue procurement documents via In-tend - 25thJune 2025
• Provider bidders briefing - 2nd July 2025 at 12:00
• Clarification deadline - 18th July 2025, 23:59
• Tender submission deadline - 25th July 202514:00
• 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
A provider bidders briefing will be held on Wednesday 2nd July at 12:00 (midday) via Microsoft Teams. Interested providers can access the meeting via the below:
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19:[EMAILMATCH_0]/0?context={"Tid":"d6674c51-daa4-4142-8047-15a78bbe9306","Oid":"4c1d9c16-0e99-45a0-b378-c09939ce0b8a"}
Total value (estimated)
- £70,500,000 excluding VAT
- £84,600,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 1 December 2025 to 30 November 2029
- Possible extension to 30 November 2035
- 10 years
Description of possible extension:
The contract term will be for 4 years with options to extend in increments to be agreed up to a maximum of 6 years for both lot 1 and lot 2. The total duration of both contracts could equate to 10 years.
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 85141000 - Services provided by medical personnel
- 85144000 - Residential health facilities services
- 85320000 - Social services
Contract locations
- UKJ31 - Portsmouth
- UKJ35 - South Hampshire
Lot constraints
Maximum number of lots a supplier can be awarded: 1
Description of how multiple lots may be awarded:
The lotting arrangements are set out as follows:
• Lot 1 - Brunel Court, Caroline Square and Milton Village
• Lot 2 - Maritime House
The evaluation of responses takes place in two stages:
• Evaluation of exclusion grounds and conditions of participation takes place first. Only when a Provider has satisfied these minimum requirements within the Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) will evaluation proceed to the next stage.
• Evaluation of award criteria takes place second and comprises evaluation of the responses to the Quality Assessment Questions (QAQ) and Pricing.
Grounds for exclusion and selection criteria are set out in the PSQ. This sets out the Conditions of Participation that Providers must meet in order to be considered for contract award. Providers will be notified at this point if they are unsuccessful.
Providers will only be able to win one of the lotting options tendered for and must submit bids for both lots. Any provider who only submits a bid against one of the lots, and not both, will have their bid set aside in its entirety.
The evaluation criteria will be the same for both lots. The Council will evaluate the tender returns for lot 1 and lot 2 independently off each other, with a preferred provider identified for each lot.
Providers are required to submit completed quality assessment questions for both lot 1 and lot 2. However, providers will only need to advise of the difference for questions 1-3 in the lot 1 submission to the lot 2 submission i.e. for quality assessment question 1- Turnaround - Improving quality providers would complete the lot 1 response in full. For the lot 2 response, providers would simply state the following 'my response for lot 2 is the same as lot 1' or 'my response for lot 2 is the same as lot 1, except for the following .......'
Where a provider has identified differences then there should be fully explained and can included additionally attachments i.e. an alternative mobilisation plan, an alternative organogram etc.
The Council will not require separate answers for questions 4 to 8.
Providers will need to submit an hourly rate that will be applied to both lot 1 and lot 2, providers cannot submit different rates for the lotting options. In the event a different rate was submitted the Council will seek clarity from the provider by requesting a single rate, otherwise the Council will set the submission for both lots aside.
Providers can submit different proposals for lot 1 and lot 2 in respect of the funding required for the turnaround costs.
The Council reserve the right to set any tender aside where the capped hourly rate exceeds £21.50 and/or the turnaround cost exceeds £75,000 under either of the lots.
The lots will be evaluated separately to determine the preferred bidder under each lot using the published evaluation criteria.
The highest-ranking provider under each lot will be awarded the contract. However, should one provider be the highest ranked tenderer under both lots then they will be offered lot 1, whilst the 2nd placed tenderer under lot 2, will be offered lot 2.
Should the top ranked provider under lot 1 decline the opportunity, then there bid will be set aside and will not be offered the opportunity under lot 2. In this event, should the 2nd place provider be the same for lot 1 and lot 2 then they would be offered lot 1 and the third placed provider on lot 2 would be offered lot 2.
Lot 1. • Lot 1 - Brunel Court, Caroline Square and Milton Village
Description
Lot 1 - Brunel Court, Caroline Square and Milton Village - £2.2M per annum (1417 hours of planned care in total, plus block hours)
As per the scope, providers will be responsible for delivering specialist sheltered housing, designed to offer a safe, private and secure environment for residents to maintain their independence, whilst having the benefits of having staff on hand 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The contract values included on this lot are based on current levels of demand and the previous year's spend. However, the value of the opportunity can fluctuate dependent on the needs of the individuals, occupancy and the size of the block.
The contract term lots will be for 4 years with options to extend in increments to be agreed up to a maximum of 6 years.
The are extra care schemes across Lot 1 are as follows -
• Brunel Court - located in Nuffield Place, 55 apartments.
https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-11428753194
• 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).
https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-11428753457
• Caroline Square - located in Portsea, 43 apartments.
Lot value (estimated)
- £43,000,000 excluding VAT
- £51,600,000 including VAT
Same for all lots
CPV classifications, contract locations and contract dates are shown in the Scope section, because they are the same for all lots.
Lot 2. Lot 2 - Maritime House
Description
Lot 2 - Maritime House £1.4M per annum (960 hours of planned care, plus block hours)
As per the scope, providers will be responsible for delivering specialist sheltered housing, designed to offer a safe, private and secure environment for residents to maintain their independence, whilst having the benefits of having staff on hand 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The contract values included on this lot are based on current levels of demand and the previous year's spend. However, the value of the opportunity can fluctuate dependent on the needs of the individuals, occupancy and the size of the block.
The contract term lots will be for 4 years with options to extend in increments to be agreed up to a maximum of 6 years.
The are extra care schemes across Lot 2 are as follows -
• Maritime House - located in Northern Parade, 80 apartments.
Lot value (estimated)
- £27,500,000 excluding VAT
- £33,000,000 including VAT
Same for all lots
CPV classifications, contract locations and contract dates are shown in the Scope section, because they are the same for all lots.
Participation
Legal and financial capacity conditions of participation
Lot 1. • Lot 1 - Brunel Court, Caroline Square and Milton Village
Lot 2. Lot 2 - Maritime House
As described in the procurement specific questionnaire and the Invitation to Tender.
Technical ability conditions of participation
Lot 1. • Lot 1 - Brunel Court, Caroline Square and Milton Village
Lot 2. Lot 2 - Maritime House
As described in the procurement specific questionnaire and the Invitation to Tender.
Particular suitability
Lot 1. • Lot 1 - Brunel Court, Caroline Square and Milton Village
Lot 2. Lot 2 - Maritime House
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)
Submission
Enquiry deadline
18 July 2025, 4:00pm
Tender submission deadline
25 July 2025, 2:00pm
Submission address and any special instructions
Tenders may be submitted electronically
Yes
Languages that may be used for submission
English
Award decision date (estimated)
29 August 2025
Recurring procurement
Publication date of next tender notice (estimated): 25 June 2029
Award criteria
| Name | Description | Type | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hourly capped rate | The weighting for this question is 30% but criterion 10 cannot be listed as 0, so a 0.01 has been allocated on the notice. |
Cost | 29.99% |
| Turnaround - Improving Quality | Quality | 15% | |
| Mobilisation | Quality | 15% | |
| Scenario A | Quality | 10% | |
| Scenario B | Quality | 10% | |
| Delivery Team and Key Personnel | Quality | 5% | |
| Balancing needs | Quality | 5% | |
| Contingency planning | Quality | 5% | |
| Community | Quality | 5% | |
| Turnaround cost | This question is for information only, the weighting on the notice has been included as 0.01 as a weighting of 0 cannot not be listed. |
Cost | 0.01% |
Other information
Description of risks to contract performance
Provider Performance & Continuity Options
As already identified above, the Council require the current service provisions to improve across all the sites, under both the lotting options. The Council are investing additional turnaround funding to improve the service provisions within the first nine to twelve months of the mobilisation of the new contract.
If a provider under either lot cannot satisfy the requirements to demonstrate the service has improved within this timescale, and the subsequent contract is to be terminated, the Council reserve the right to use any of the following options at their discretion to award a contract to an alternative provider -
• If the lot 1 provider fails to meet the agreed performance requirements, the Council reserves the right to award the contract to the lot 2 provider.
• If the lot 2 provider fails to meet the agreed performance requirements, the Council reserves the right to award the contract to the lot 1 provider.
• If a provider under lot 1 and/or lot 2 fails to meet the required performance standards, the Council reserves the right to engage the next highest-ranked provider from the original tender evaluation for the relevant lot. Should the next ranked provider decline the opportunity, the Council will proceed to engage with the subsequent ranked provider(s) within that lot, in order of ranking, until a suitable provider is secured.
In order for the Council to consider any direct award options, providers must continue to meet all minimum requirements as originally set out in the conditions of participation.
This includes maintaining compliance with applicable legislation, statutory guidance, and regulatory standards in force at the time of award. Providers must also remain responsive to any changes in law and associated regulations. Failure to meet these evolving requirements may disqualify a provider from consideration for direct award.
Providers will not be able to exceed the current applicable hourly rate when looking at any potential direct award options.
The Council cannot confirm whether any additional transformation funding will be available and to what level this could subsequently be.
During the contractual term of either lot 1 or lot 2, the Council reserves the right to engage alternative providers, as outlined above, should any capacity or capability issues arise with the incumbent supplier under the relevant lot. For example, if the Council has grounds to terminate a contract due to poor performance or a provider was to become insolvent, it may approach the provider under the other lot or engage with the next ranked provider(s) from the original tender shortlist, in order of ranking.
In circumstances where a contract award is required outside of the initial 12-month mobilisation period, the Council may award the subsequent contract either for the remaining term originally available to the incumbent provider or for a new initial term of four years, with the option to extend by a further six years. This flexibility ensures continuity of service and accommodates potential implications under TUPE regulations.
Should the Council need to take up any of the contingency options under either or both of the lotting options, this could increase the overall level of potential spend for this opportunity to a total of £70.5M.
Applicable trade agreements
- Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
Conflicts assessment prepared/revised
Yes
Procedure
Procedure type
Open procedure
Special regime
Light touch
Documents
Associated tender documents
PME Report - Extra Care v1.1.pdf
Preliminary Market Engagement Report following the PME noticed published on 12th May 2025 - Notice Identifier 2025/S 000-020541.
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