Issue - items at meetings - Mental Health Support Review

46.1         Anne Foster from the CCG presented the report. There were 38 expressions of interest for contracts across five sectors. Ten contracts have been awarded to twelve organisations, all with local connections. The Prospectus approach that was used builds in a social capital element to procurement. This is the first time that the CCG has tried this approach; some elements of it have been more successful than others.

46.2         Questions and comments included:

Ø      There appears to have been a problem in procuring some BME support services, what was the situation?

Only two bids were received, one which was too narrow, and one which did not address the specific requirements that were needed. It was therefore decided to keep the existing contract for a year and in that time to work with community groups to see how to move forward in future years.

Ø      What happens to those organisations who did not win the contracts? It would be a shame to lose their expertise.

Some organisations chose not to bid whilst it was felt that some other bids were not strong enough. In addition some other providers may be sub-contracted to provide some services eg Southdown Housing Association may subcontract some of their day services provision

Ø      Will the Prospectus approach be rolled out? It would be useful to have more information on Prospectus.

It has been a positive approach for contracting for Mental Health services and matching providers to services. However it may not work for all services.

A report on Prospectus can be bought to a future meeting.

This was welcomed.