Published date: 24 September 2020

Closed opportunity - This means that the contract is currently closed. The buying department may be considering suppliers that have already applied, or no suitable offers were made.


Closing: 6 October 2020, 9am

Contract summary

Industry

  • Guidance and counselling services - 85312300

Location of contract

PO1 2PR

Value of contract

£0

Procurement reference

20/GH/08 (call for competition only)

Published date

24 September 2020

Closing date

6 October 2020

Closing time

9am

Contract start date

18 October 2020

Contract end date

18 October 2023

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Restricted procedure (above threshold)

A two-stage procedure, where the first stage is used to select suppliers, who are then invited to bid in the second stage.

This procedure can be used for procurements above the relevant contract value threshold.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

No

Description

The University of Portsmouth wishes to ascertain the marketplace and is seeking a suitable supplier to provide a fully fluent, multilingual student support service which will supplement our embedded wellbeing and mental health provision, offering 24/7 safeguarding support and in particular ensuring that international students can access support and counselling in their home language. Crucially, the service will also provide legally compliant support and counselling for whatever country the student is in at the time of contact.

The service must have capability to provide immediate 24/7 telephone safeguarding support and ideally text chat from trained mental health professionals, using key world languages in addition to English such as Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish and French and possibly additional key languages. It should be able to arrange for students blocks of ongoing professional counselling sessions in any world language within a few days of initial contact. Students should be able to request matching for language, cultural background or other relevant experience (eg LGBTQ+). These factors can be crucial in circumstances where students are distressed or in poor mental health, making a significant difference to the helpfulness and perceived accessibility of support.

The University is looking for a partner who can help us to provide:

Professional 24/7 safeguarding provision for all students (include distance learners and those in countries other than the UK)
Substantial increase in counselling provision for all students, ensuring sufficient capacity to meet rising demand on the University Student Wellbeing Service
Significantly increased accessibility of wellbeing/mental health support for international and other students with minority experience, supporting their inclusion and success.
Collaborative working to extend our embedded mental health provision, linking directly with confidential Student Wellbeing Service systems to ensure appropriate data-sharing and a joined up approach to student support and safeguarding.

Anticipated initial contract length is for 3 years.

Following receipt of expressions of interest the University will confirm its intentions and if applicable release full procurement documentation. Please note, this notice does not bind the University to undertake any further procurement activity. All procurement activity will be undertaken in accordance with PCR 2015.
To Express an Interest in this project please register on the University of Portsmouth In-Tend webpage and express an interest in this project. Please find the weblink for our webpage below:
https://in-tendhost.co.uk/port/

More information

Links

Additional text

This is currently a call for competition only. Please express your interest via the University's tendering portal - https://in-tendhost.co.uk/port/

Is a Recurrent Procurement Type? : No

About the buyer

Contact name

Geraldine Horn

Address

St Michaels Road
Portsmouth
Hampshire
PO1 2PR
United Kingdom

Telephone

02392843343

Email

geraldine.horn@port.ac.uk