UK Public Sector Contracts & Tenders

Thurrock Council wishes to undertake soft market testing to ensure it can better meet the needs of adults who require care and support in their own home. In light of rising demand, changes in the complexity of service users, our integration with health and other partners and most importantly based on what people who use services have told us, we are looking to shape services so that they are delivered differently. As such, the Council is hosting a soft market engagement event for existing and potential providers to explore what future support might look like in Thurrock. Please follow the link to the In-Tend buyer profile (below) to express interest and download the appended document for further information, including the event details and how to register your attendance. https://in-tendhost.co.uk/thurrockcouncil/aspx/ProjectManage/1506

This Pre-Tender Market Engagement is intended to allow interested organisations with relevant experience to outline their views and provide information with no commitment to the Supplier or the Council. One of the Council's core digital ambitions is digital by design. This will enable us to deliver lower cost, more efficient higher quality services by optimising our operations and embedding a culture of continual service improvement. The most effective way to harness existing and emerging technologies. As part of its digital journey Thurrock Council is looking to implement a CRM system to draw together data from across the organisation to generate a single view of the customer, providing a more efficient and smooth experience for service users, reducing the need for multiple contacts. The CRM will enable the integration with voice automation software for routing non-complex contacts and along with the introduction of webforms with line of business systems, will mean that information will only have to be provided once. This consistent and efficient approach will reduce multiple contacts and the possibility of points of failure ensuring that there is only "one version of the truth" held by council systems supporting the "right first time" principle. The CRM will also enable a rationalisation of applications in use across the council and will lead to a reduction in licence costs and in the number of contracts that need to be managed. For more details please register on the Council's e-tendering portal Intend by following the link: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/thurrockcouncil/aspx/Home

Thurrock Council's Children's Services are seeking to engage with experienced organisations with a background in providing accommodation and / or support for young people leaving care and homeless young people. We have high aspirations for our young people and want to collaborate with organisations from the private and voluntary sector to co-design an approach to enabling our young people to grow into happy, healthy, adults, living fulfilling lives. We are particularly interested in working with organisations with experience of supported accommodation, floating support, accessing the private rented sector, supported lodgings, post 18 accommodation, crash pads or any other successful approaches to helping young people transition into the adult world. In support of this, we are holding a market engagement event, which will be used to inform how we support our young people and subsequent tender opportunities. The event will be held on 25th November 2024, from 2:30pm to 5:00pm at The Beehive Resource Centre, West St, Grays RM17 6XP. This engagement event will: • Share the vision we have for how our young people experience transitioning from care, including the types of accommodation and support they will need. • Discuss how we can work most effectively together to achieve this vision, including considering different approaches to contracting for services. • Provide an overview of the Council's current and projected needs for accommodation and support for those leaving care and homeless young people. • Begin to develop a model for how the Local Authority and the private and voluntary sector will work in partnership to secure the very best possible outcomes for the young people of Thurrock. Thurrock Council is particularly interested in: • Organisations with experience of supported accommodation; floating support; accessing the private rented sector; supported lodgings; post 18 accommodation; crash pads or any other successful approaches to helping young people transition into the adult world. • Organisations with a strong commitment to achieving positive, measurable outcomes for young people. • Organisations capable of offering therapeutic or specialist services for young people with complex needs. • Organisations who are willing to collaborate on innovative service models with a focus on what young people need and what works. If you are interested in attending this engagement event and exploring how we can work together to improve outcomes for young people, please confirm your attendance though the In-Tend correspondence facility, including the names of those attending. We look forward to a productive discussion on how we can create a robust framework of support for Thurrock's young people transitioning to independent living. This notice is a market engagement exercise only and does not imply any commitment by Thurrock Council to procure any specific services at this stage.

Thurrock Council's Children's Services wants to partner with experienced providers to deliver high-quality, Ofsted-registered residential care homes for children in Thurrock. In support of this, we are holding a market engagement event to discuss the Council's need for homes for children close to Thurrock, potential block purchases, development of therapeutic homes and development of best practice. This event will provide an overview of our requirements and an opportunity for providers to collaborate with us to design an effective local approach. The event will be held on 14th October 2024, from 9:30am to 1:00pm at The Beehive in Thurrock. The event will: • Provide an overview of Thurrock Council's current and future need for children's homes. • Consider different models including block purchases and soft block purchase. • Gather feedback from providers about how to work more effectively together. • Consider how best to meet local needs and how therapeutic provision could contribute. • Explore how we can work together to ensure the best outcomes for children in our care. Thurrock Council is initially seeking providers who wish to develop a mutually beneficial partnership with Thurrock Council in order to meet the needs of local children who need residential care. If you are interested in attending the engagement event and exploring this opportunity, please confirm your attendance though the In-Tend correspondence facility, including the names of those attending. Access In-Tend through the below link: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/thurrockcouncil/aspx/ProjectManage/1581 We look forward to discussing how we can work together to support Thurrock's children in need of residential care. This notice is an initial market engagement exercise and does not constitute a commitment by Thurrock Council to any procurement or contractual arrangement at this stage.

Thurrock Council is planning to go out to tender for the provision of Information, Support and Advice specifically for Unpaid Carers The purpose of the service will be to inform, support and give advice to unpaid carers in a way that allows and encourages them to reach their potential and live fulfilled lives, by providing a quality service unpaid carers will be supported to continue their caring roll in a way that reduces physical and mental ill health. The service will provide opportunities for unpaid carers to connect with the community and peers providing unpaid care, whilst ensuring they have access and signposting to support for both general and carer specific issues. At this stage there is no guarantee of business from the Council with this simply being a market test. Please download the information document / questionnaire from In-Tend for further details and to provide feedback. Additional information: Please download the information document / questionnaire from In-Tend for further details and to provide feedback.

Thurrock Council is planning to go out to tender for the provision of Information, Support and Advice specifically for Unpaid Carers The purpose of the service will be to inform, support and give advice to unpaid carers in a way that allows and encourages them to reach their potential and live fulfilled lives, by providing a quality service unpaid carers will be supported to continue their caring roll in a way that reduces physical and mental ill health. The service will provide opportunities for unpaid carers to connect with the community and peers providing unpaid care, whilst ensuring they have access and signposting to support for both general and carer specific issues. At this stage there is no guarantee of business from the Council with this simply being a market test. Please download the information document / questionnaire from In-Tend for further details and to provide feedback. Additional information: At this stage there is no guarantee of business from the Council with this simply being a market test.

Thurrock Council is seeking to develop a framework of providers to deliver day and residential educational support placements to children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) up to the age of 25 years old. Our vision is in securing SEND day and residential placements provision in and outside of Thurrock, ideally as close to the homes of Thurrock's children and young people as possible to allow them to remain within their local communities. Our aim is to support positive family relationships, reduce family travel costs to provision often located a long distance away from a child or young person's home and family in Thurrock and reduce expensive out of borough care. Providers should be able to offer day and/or residential educational placements with a range of specialist support and service responses. Appointed providers will deliver innovative person-centred approaches and models of care to suit the individual needs of each child and young person and often, their complex needs and disabilities. We are also interested in the social value that providers may offer Thurrock, our children, young people and their families. A market engagement event is being hosted to enable providers to gain an understanding of the borough, the requirements for this service and to have a dialogue with commissioners about service development. Further information on the event, including how to register attendance, is available on Eventbrite - a link is provided within this notice. Additional information: To get more information on the Market Engagement events, and to obtain free tickets, please click on the links provided.

Thurrock Council's Children's Services are seeking to engage with experienced organisations with a background in providing accommodation and / or support for young people leaving care and homeless young people. We have high aspirations for our young people and want to collaborate with organisations from the private and voluntary sector to co-design an approach to enabling our young people to grow into happy, healthy, adults, living fulfilling lives. We are particularly interested in working with organisations with experience of supported accommodation, floating support, accessing the private rented sector, supported lodgings, post 18 accommodation, crash pads or any other successful approaches to helping young people transition into the adult world. In support of this, we are holding a market engagement event, which will be used to inform how we support our young people and subsequent tender opportunities. The event will be held on 25th November 2024, from 9:30am to 1:00pm at The Beehive Resource Centre, West St, Grays RM17 6XP. This engagement event will: • Share the vision we have for how our young people experience transitioning from care, including the types of accommodation and support they will need. • Discuss how we can work most effectively together to achieve this vision, including considering different approaches to contracting for services. • Provide an overview of the Council's current and projected needs for accommodation and support for those leaving care and homeless young people. • Begin to develop a model for how the Local Authority and the private and voluntary sector will work in partnership to secure the very best possible outcomes for the young people of Thurrock. Thurrock Council is particularly interested in: • Organisations with experience of supported accommodation; floating support; accessing the private rented sector; supported lodgings; post 18 accommodation; crash pads or any other successful approaches to helping young people transition into the adult world. • Organisations with a strong commitment to achieving positive, measurable outcomes for young people. • Organisations capable of offering therapeutic or specialist services for young people with complex needs. • Organisations who are willing to collaborate on innovative service models with a focus on what young people need and what works. If you are interested in attending this engagement event and exploring how we can work together to improve outcomes for young people, please confirm your attendance though the In-Tend correspondence facility, including the names of those attending. We look forward to a productive discussion on how we can create a robust framework of support for Thurrock's young people transitioning to independent living. This notice is a market engagement exercise only and does not imply any commitment by Thurrock Council to procure any specific services at this stage.