KS1&2 Alternative Education Provision

Suffolk County Council are seeking to commission a provider or providers to deliver an alternative provision offer across Suffolk for Key Stage 1 and 2 learners from September 2021, initially for three years with the option to extend for up to a further 24 months. This is for children who need a more specialist and long term intervention than is provided by the established network of Pupil Referral Units in Suffolk This is split into 3 areas, Ipswich, Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, with each area having 22 places. Bidders may apply for 1 or more lots.

This provision will provide education for pupils with significant social, emotional, and mental health needs who have been permanently excluded or have been referred through local authority admissions processes and require significant expertise to support them back into education. They will present with multiple barriers to their learning and require intense support to potentially return to mainstream education, or progress to another appropriate setting. It will be the expectation that these placements will be longer term and, in some cases, up to two years.

Interested parties are invited to express their interest in order to gain full access to the tender documentation. This opportunity is available in the `Current Tenders` area of www.suffolksourcing.uk. This tender is advertised using the Lighter Touch Regime as an open tender with negotiation. Please see the tender documentation for further details.

Additional information: This opportunity is available in the `Current Tenders` area of portal. Interested parties are invited to express their interest to gain full access to the tender documentation.

The deadline date for submissions of the tender is Friday 12th February 2021 at 12 noon. Please note late returns will NOT be permitted. The deadline for clarification questions is Thursday 28th January 2021 which must be generated via the correspondence option on the website.

Suffolk County Council incorporates a minimum 10 calendar day standstill period from the point at which information on the award of contract is communicated to the tenderers. This period allows unsuccessful tenderers to seek further debriefing from the contracting authority before the contract is entered into. If an appeal regarding the award of contract has not been successfully resolved: The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 as amended provide for aggrieved parties who have been harmed or at risk of harm by a breach of the rules, to take action in the High Court (England, Wales and Northern Ireland). Any such action must be brought promptly.

The Contracting Authority has identified that the scope of this procurement may fall within a business sector which may be attractive to infiltration by organised crime groups. The Contracting Authority therefore reserves the right to include enhanced probity checks / requirements at the award stages of the procurement.

Is a Recurrent Procurement Type? : Yes