Decision details

Proposed decision:

      i.        APPROVE the extension of the contracted Young Persons Drug and Alcohol Service (contract number SS17033) with We Are With You for a period of fifteen months, from 1 January 2023 to 31 March 2024; and

    ii.        DELEGATE authority to the Director of Public Health to take relevant actions, including but not limited to, entering into and finalising the terms of relevant contracts or other legal agreements, as necessary, to implement the decision.

Reason for the decision:

The Young Persons Drug and Alcohol Service contract is due to end on 31 December 2022 and following a review of the service, the recommendation is to extend the contract by 15 months to align all KCC-commissioned drug and alcohol contracts to end in March 2024. This will give the Council maximum flexibility and opportunity to re-commission in a way that will effectively support Kent residents in the future. Commissioners plan to procure all the contracts as one exercise which will allow for economies of scale for the process and shared engagement with all the market. The original contract has provisions for the extension and the proposed extension is compliant with Public Contract Regulations 2015.

Background:

The Young Persons Drug and Alcohol Service contract, as delivered by Addaction, which later rebranded as We Are With You (With You), commenced on 1 January 2018, to provide an integrated substance misuse service for young people in Kent. The service is for those aged 11-18 with the flexibility to provide interventions for those aged 18-24 who have an identified need for the young person’s provision (rather than simply accessing the adult provision). The service incorporates evidence-based specialist community treatment, early interventions and workforce development.

The contract is due to end on 31 December 2022 (five years in total) with an option to extend for an additional two years. Given the good performance of the current contract, the identified opportunity to gain efficiencies in the procurement process by joint procurement with the other substance misuse services and the potential for disruption to vulnerable individuals by making unnecessary changes, it is recommended that the extension to the contract is enacted.

Options (other options considered but discarded):

Decommission the service - Decommissioning the service was concluded as a non-viable option that would place KCC in breach of the Public Health grant’s conditions.

Retender the service – Retendering the service now would not enable the Council to recommission all KCC-commissioned drug and alcohol services together, which may result in missed opportunities for efficiencies.

How the proposed decision supports the Council’s Strategy 2022-26:

The service contributes to the ‘Priority 1: Levelling up Kent’ via harm-reduction and structured treatment of early onset substance misuse issues, which secures long term health outcomes for the young people in Kent.

Harmonising the end dates and lifecycles of all the commissioned drug and alcohol services gives KCC the opportunity to conduct our planning and commissioning processes in an efficient way, in alignment with the ‘Priority 4: New Models of Care’ of the Council’s Strategy 2022-26.

As Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, I agree to:

I. APPROVE the extension of the contracted Young Persons Drug and Alcohol Service (contract number SS17033) with We Are With You for a period of fifteen months, from 1 January 2023 to 31 March 2024; and

II. DELEGATE authority to the Director of Public Health to take relevant actions, including but not limited to, entering into and finalising the terms of relevant contracts or other legal agreements, as necessary, to implement the decision.