Issue - meetings

[To be introduced  by the Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing. Report of the Director of Public Health.]This report details the outcome of an open tender process for the award of a contract to provide an adult peer support service to residents with a substance misuse problem  The report recommends the award of a new contract in line with Contract Standing Order (CSO) 9.06.1(d) following a robust tendering process.

The Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing introduced the report which detailed the outcome of an open tender process for the award of a contract to provide an adult peer support service to residents with a substance misuse problem .The recommended organisation was based in Tottenham and had significant experience in delivering this support.

RESOLVED

To approve the award of contract to Bringing Unity Back Into the Community (BUBIC) in accordance with Contract Standing Order (CSO) 9.06.1(d), for an initial term of 3 years for a value of £498, 489.00 with an option to extend for a period of up to a further 2 years for an additional value making a total of £838,950.00 over the maximum 5 years.

Reasons for decision

The recommendations as outlined in 3.1 are based on those providers who scored the highest MEAT scores and therefore would offer the best value to the Council in terms of quality and price. The quality component of this tender was 55% and the price 45%.

As a result of the procurement exercise, which was carried out in accordance with the Procurement Code of Practice, it is now recommended that the successful tenderer be awarded a contract as outlined in 3.1 in accordance with CSO 9.06.1(d).

Alternative options considered

The option to not have a substance misuse peer led service in Haringey was considered and not found to be feasible for the following reasons; 

The need for substance misuse services is high, the Haringey Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) highlights that drug use in Haringey is more prevalent and problematic than the national average. 

Getting prevention messages and help to the right people in Haringey is challenging, crack and heroin use is illegal and often linked to criminal activity. Drug use is stigmatised and drug users often do not know about services, this is particularly true of crack cocaine users. A peer led service has been able to reach into the community in a way that traditional services don’t.

This service was set up to specifically target Haringey’s black and ethnic minority (BME) crack using residents living in more deprived areas of Haringey; this has been successful with 69% of those currently using being BME crack users.

Service Review from service users and local providers suggests that not having a peer led service would impact on the current success of Haringey’s treatment system, currently it performs in the top quartile nationally. 

Consultation with Community Safety partners demonstrated that there was no other service in Haringey able to access drug dealing hotspots to try to disrupt dealing through a community engagement approach.