CN220350 (previously SC21032) Therapies - SEN, Adoption Support Service and VSK

Speech, Language and Communication Needs - Delivering Inclusion within the Curriculum for Education (DICE) Service : Tender Notice Kent County Council is seeking to commission a Speech, Language and Communication Needs - Delivering Inclusion within the Curriculum for Education (DICE) Service, that supports children and young people in mainstream schools and across community settings, such as Family Hubs, during both term time and school holiday periods. The service will hold a key role in supporting those children and young people who are either in mainstream schools and those who for various reasons are not attending school regularly (e.g. such as those home educated, non/low-school attendance, living in Refuges, etc) and have Speech and Language needs.

This will be referred to as place-based settings. This service will initially sit alongside the wider Community Services provided by the NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) with an ambition for the services to be seamless provision to those accessing the Services.

The Balanced System® Framework is a framework for commissioning Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) for children and young people. The aim is to use the framework to understand, plan and evaluate services to support children and young people with SLCN within place-based settings across Kent.

The Framework has been developed in line with both national policy and legislation, as well as professional guidance for Speech and Language Therapists, to deliver integrated services for children and young people. Subject to acquiring approval, it is Kent County Council's intention to commission a Speech, Language and Communication Needs - Delivering Inclusion within the Curriculum for Education (DICE) Service, commencing 27 October 2025.

Service delivery will be in partnership and working with the wider stakeholders, including, but not limited to NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB), 12 District and Borough Councils, Medway Council. This is a Provider Selection Regime (PSR) intention to award notice.

The awarding of this contract is subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 do not apply to this award.

Additional information: To ensure that the successful bid meets an acceptable standard, the quality score must be at least 50%. The Council will award the contract using the Value per Other Key Criteria Point evaluation method.

This method involves dividing the total price of the bid by the score achieved against the key criteria. The formula used is: Value per Other Key Criteria Point = Price (£) / Key Criteria Score Only bids that meet the minimum quality threshold will be considered.

Among those, the bid with the lowest Value per Other Key Criteria Point will be ranked highest. This bidder will be selected as the Council's Preferred Supplier.