Issue - meetings

[Report of the Director for Public Health. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Finance and Health.]Execution of the option agreed by Cabinet for the extension of two years of three contracts delivering substance misuse services (total contract length will be five years).

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Health introduced the report which sought agreement from Cabinet to the extension of three public health substance misuse service contracts. The contracts were for adult services that were previously awarded by Cabinet, for an initial period of three years, with an option to extend for a further 2 years. The current 3 year contracts end in December 2016.

RESOLVED

In accordance with CSO 10.02.2 to agree the extension of the following contracts for 2 years:

Reasons for decision

In 2013 three contracts were awarded by Cabinet for the provision of adult substance misuse services. The contract length was 3 years with the option to extend for a further 2 years.

The services are meeting expected outcomes (6.4 6.5). To ensure continued service improvement over the next two years, service users are currently conducting a review, the finding of which will be incorporated into an updated specification.

The contract extensions include further budget savings in 2017/18 of £170,000 for HAGA and BEH Mental Health Trust. These services will also help to generate an additional £100,000 in savings through offering more community based services, thus reducing the need for spot purchased residential services.

Alternative options considered

There is a competitive market for the provision of substance misuse services. This market consists of both NHS and not for profit organisations. When these services were tendered in 2013/14 there was good market engagement, with between 3-5 providers bidding for each service. Instead of extending the contracts Haringey could have returned to the market by retendering, it took the decisions not to for the following reasons;

• Since the last procurement no new market opportunities in terms of technological changes or new providers, have arisen.
• The current providers are delivering as per specification and working with the commissioner to innovate and make savings.
• When benchmarked against other Councils these services perform well in terms of outcome and the length of time it takes to complete treatment.
• The current services have a skills mix of NHS and voluntary sector staff, which provides good, affordable services.
• There is no intention at this stage to radically re-specify the services.
• Re-tendering creates anxiety within staff and service users, the types of services delivered within this contract rely on a strong stable relationship between service users and their key worker.