1920-0172 Support-after-Suicide Service in North Central London

Islington Council invites suitable expressions of interest from suppliers for a Support-after-Suicide service for the five boroughs of north central London (London Boroughs of: Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey, and Islington)

Current status / Background
Each death by suicide has profound, wide-ranging, intergenerational, economic and emotional consequences
for those directly bereaved and society as a whole. There is currently no routine process for identifying people in North London who have been bereaved by suicide and no dedicated support service to provide them support after bereavement. On behalf of the Departments of Public Health of the five North Central London boroughs (Camden, Islington, Haringey, Barnet and Enfield), the London Borough of Islington invites proposals for a Support-after-Suicide service to provide emotional and practical support for those bereaved by suicide.

The requirement
The aim of the service is to support those bereaved by suicide to face the immediate, acute, disorientating and painful experience of the first weeks and months after a suicide. The service also aims to support communities bereaved by suicide in partnership with local agencies and community groups.

We expect the service will consider offering individual support, and potentially group-based and community-based support. At a minimum, we require a service to be able to offer:

• Pro-active contact and offer of support to those referred and who self-refer
• An assessment of need from a qualified person
• One-to-one emotional support
• Telephone or email support
• Provision of verbal and written information
• Support those bereaved to cope with the practical tasks and impacts of bereavement by suicide, such as dealing with the police, funeral arrangements or visiting the place of death as well as accessing legal advice or financial support
• Advocacy and liaison support, such as offering to accompany clients at inquests, dealing with the media, advocating for clients by speaking to professionals or statutory agencies on their behalf
• Signposting and/or referral on to other emotional support services, such as bereavement counselling, mental health services, GPs, or peer support groups, where appropriate

Lots
This contract is not being divided into lots. A single service is required for all of North Central London.


TUPE [Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations]
Potential providers must be aware that TUPE may or may not apply to this service. Further details will be available in the invitation to tender.


Contract Period
The contract period will be for 24 months from an estimated start date 1 April 2020 with an option to extend up to a further 12 months.

Contract Value
The estimated total value of this contract is £460,500 over the maximum 36 months term of the contract. This is based on £153,500 per annum. There is a maximum fixed budget for this service of £460,500. Any bids over this amount will be disqualified.


Award criteria
The contract will be awarded to the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations. MEAT for this contract is quality 90% and cost 10%. Further details will be provided in the invitation to tender.

Cost 10%
Quality 90%

Quality made up of:
• Proposed approach to service provision 25%
• Proposed approach to service access 20%
• Proposed approach to staff recruitment, support and professional development 10%
• Proposed approach to ensure the close involvement of people with lived experience of suicide bereavement, including recruitment, support, training, and maintaining volunteers and peer workers 10%
• Proposed approach to quality assurance and improvement 10%
• Proposed approach to potential challenges 10%
• Proposed approach to social value and sustainability 5%

Total 100%

Tenderers should be aware that we reserve the right to hold presentations and/or interviews during the tender process. Presentations and/or interviews will be for verification/clarification purposes of the written submission.

We reserve the right to interview leading bidders.

Procurement Process
This contract will be procured using the Open Procedure. The Open Procedure means that all bidders who successfully express an interest will automatically be invited to tender and have access to the tender documents. Those who submit a tender and meet the minimum requirements will have their full tender, method statements and pricing evaluated.