Strength and Balance Service for West, Mid, Southwest and Southeast Essex

The aim of the strength and balance training service is to reduce the risk of falls, thereby improving health outcomes and reducing demands on health and social care services. This service offers expert instruction for those at risk of falling to improve their muscular strength and balance to reduce the risk and fear of falls improving individuals’ wellbeing and their long-term independence. The service is most used by those who are elderly and frail. The service will be recommissioned and delivered in West, Mid-, Southwest and Southeast Essex.

Essex County Council is intending to utilise the competitive process under the Provider Selection Regime for the re-commissioning of this service. The Council is also holding a market engagement session for prospective bidders for this service to provide an overview of the requirement as well as provide an opportunity to interested providers to ask questions.

The market engagement event will take place at 10.30 am via Microsoft Teams on 25 October 2024.

The intention for the market engagement is to:

• present the service aims and objectives;
• explore how providers may be able to add social value to this contract;
• gain insight into any challenges and/or lessons learned providers may be able to share;
• an opportunity to ask questions and/or raise any other areas providers may see as relevant.

The commissioning team will present the service requirements and take suitable notes during the event to inform the commissioning of these decisions. Providers will also have the opportunity to send any additional questions they may have during or up to 48 hours after the event, and these will be recorded and shared afterwards.

If you are interested in attending the virtual event, please register by emailing [email protected] and provide the following details by no later than 2.00 pm, 24 October 2024.

1. Names and email addresses of delegates

2. Organisation name

Please note that registration at this event does not count as registration for the full procurement process, which will be separately advertised via the Find a Tender Service (FTS) website in due course. The service will be commissioned via a competitive process conducted in line with the Provider Selection Regime for Healthcare Services 2023. For the avoidance of any further doubt, please be advised that any dates for the proposed procurement opportunity within this notice are provided for indicative purposes only and the Council reserves the right to amend this information following confirmation of the procurement timetable for this project.

Full details of the structure of this procurement and associated timetable will be detailed within the corresponding Contract Notice in due course.