Integrated healthcare services at HMP Chelmsford

Location

HMP Chelmsford

Description

This notice is confirmation of an award having been made due to urgent circumstances, due to unforeseeable circumstances not attributable to the relevant authority.Integrated healthcare services at HMP Chelmsford to ensure uninterrupted access to essential primary care, mental health, and substance misuse services in a high risk custodial environment, while giving commissioners the stability needed to design a robust longer term procurement.The contract period is for 24 months - commencing on 1st April 2026 until 30th 31st March 2028.Total contract value is £6,565,362.42

Total Quantity or Scope

Integrated healthcare services at HMP Chelmsford to ensure uninterrupted access to essential primary care, mental health, and substance misuse services in a high risk custodial environment, while giving commissioners the stability needed to design a robust longer term procurement. This notice is confirmation of an award having been made due to urgent circumstances, due to unforeseeable circumstances not not attributable to the relevant authority.

Award Detail

Award Criteria

CPV Codes

• 85100000 - Health services

Indicators

• Award on basis of price and quality.

Legal Justification

See Section VI.3 - Additional Information

Other Information

This contract has been awarded under Regulation 14 urgent circumstances provision of the Provider Selection Regime(PSR). This contract has been awarded under the Health Care Services(Provider Selection Regime) Regulations2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Procurement Act Regulations 2023 do not apply to this award.Justification for Urgent Award: NHS England has a statutory duty to commission healthcare services in places of detention; failure to award this contract would be a breach of this duty and result in harm to this vulnerable patient group as there would be no alternative accessible healthcare services.The rationale for selecting the proposed provider is that as the incumbent provider they would be able to continue the service delivery with no interruptions. No other provider could safely mobilise without increasing risk to patients. Alternative providers would not be able to mobilise safely in less than 2 months given the complexity and likely staffing issues that would be caused by a change in provider. All staff need to have security clearance which takes 6-8 weeks meaning there is insufficient time for a new provider to mobilise a workforce to deliver services from 1st April 2026.Investigate the reported alleged quality concerns and enable the provider to implement any required remedial actions.Justification for Contract Length: The contract period is 24 months from 1st April 2026 to 31st March 2028 to ensure the continuity of essential services while NHS England undertakes the necessary assessments and determines the most appropriate long term commissioning approach in accordance with the Provider Selection Regime (PSR). A 24 month duration is required to ensure sufficient time and stability to:• Investigate the reported alleged quality concerns and enable the provider to implement any required remedial actions.• Evaluate future commissioning options, ensuring alignment with strategic and operational needs.• Undertake a compliant PSR process • Safely mobilise any future service arrangements, minimising transition risks and protecting patient safety.Given the scale and pace of ongoing transformation across NHS organisations, any transition to new contractual arrangements carries an inherent risk of disrupting service continuity. Such disruption may compromise commissioners’ ability to effectively manage change and increases the likelihood of critical processes being overlooked, which could ultimately place patients at risk. To mitigate these risks, a longer contract period is necessary to provide stability during this period of organisational change, ensuring that transformation activities can be delivered safely and that no gaps emerge in patient care.Contract duration will allow the Commissioner to review optimal service delivery models and consider commissioning/procurement options. This decision was approved by Public Health Oversight Group on 9th February, 2026There are no conflicts or potential conflicts of interest.