Public procurement notice: Modification Of A Contract/Concession During Its Term
Published: 2022-09-27
Buyer: NHS Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Open procedure
CPV classification: 85000000 | 85100000: Health services

Technical requirements: The aim of the service is to offer recommended treatments for depression and anxiety. The IAPT service contributes to the national mental health strategy which aims to:
• Improve outcomes for people with mental health problems through high-quality services that are equally accessible to all – the service will cover the people aged 16 and over who are registered with a Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland GP Practice.
• supporting integration of IAPT provision within mental health services at a neighbourhood and place-based level.
The aim of the service is to offer recommended treatments for depression and anxiety. The IAPT service contributes to the national mental health strategy which aims to:
• Improve outcomes for people with mental health problems through high-quality services that are equally accessible to all – the service will cover the people aged 16 and over who are registered with a Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland GP Practice.
• supporting integration of IAPT provision within mental health services at a neighbourhood and place-based level.
The modification relates to the requirement of additional activity being identified which requires increased funding so that the IAPT service is expanded and achieves national set targets. The original annual activity was based on c.25,000 individuals accessing the service a year, however year 22/23 requires c.31,090 and year 23/24 requires c.33,826 individuals to access the service. Materially there is no change in the performance of the contract.
The modification relates to providing increased funding to Vita Mind for the IAPT service to expand and achieve national set targets. The original annual activity was based on c.25,000 individuals accessing the service a year, however year 22/23 requires c.31,090 and year 23/24 requires c.33,826 individuals to access the service. The value of the increase for 22/23 is £791,832.00 and 23/24 is £2,966,153, there on the £2,966,153 will be an annual recurrent cost over the entire Contract period. The overall modification value, including the optional extensions, totals £15,622,597.00, which is an approximate increase of 27% to the original Contract value.
Commissioners have worked closely with the current IAPT provider, VITA Mind, and with wider system colleagues (via MH collaborative group) to discuss options for meeting targets. A costed plan has been developed with VITA Mind to meet the target for 22/23 and 23/24. Commissioners and VITA Mind colleagues have also worked through the likely profiling of the costs across 22/23 and 23/24 based on timing of the investment, upfront costs and lead-in time for substantive recruitment. The value increase will be attributed to a recurrent increase in staff time and marketing linked to sustaining the ambitious and high-level access rate target. It should be noted this cost per access is based on the average cost of required and timely input across the entire the service pathway not just a contact cost – thus ensuring that performance against wait times and recovery rates are maintained as the service expands.
The activity expectations originally procured within the VITA Mind contract are lower than the targets set nationally based on the LLR population. By the end of 2023/24 the IAPT access target is increasing by over a third from the original VITA Mind contract. Delivery of the expanded target will be required across the areas that Vita Mind are currently contracted to operate and the type of service that will be needed will be ostensibly the same as the service provided by Vita Mind. Commissioning an alternative provider for the additional activity would be impractical to deliver (without negatively impacting on the existing Vita Mind contractual activity) and not interoperable without significant additional cost to focus on trying to make them interoperable. It would not be within the patient’s interest to change provider and there is materially no change in the performance of the Contract.


Winner: Vita Health Solutions Limited