Psychological Counselling Services

This requirement is for: The Correctional Service of Canada, William Head Institution, Pacific Region.

Trade agreement: This procurement is not subject to any trade agreement.

Tendering procedures: All interested suppliers may submit a bid.

Competitive Procurement Strategy: lowest priced compliant bid.

Set-aside under the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business: This procurement is not subject to any set-asides for Aboriginal Suppliers.

Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: This procurement is not subject to a Comprehensive Land Claims Agreement.

Security Requirements: This contract includes security requirements.

Nature of Requirements:

The following is a summary of the statement of work for this requirement:

The Correctional Service Canada has a requirement to provide essential and non-essential mental health and/or psychological assessment or psychological risk assessment services to offenders

Objectives:

The Contractor must provide mental health services to offenders, as requested by the Project Authority, in accordance with the National Essential Health Services Framework including any amendment to this Framework issued by CSC during the contract period and any optional period if and when exercised by CSC. 

These services include, but are not limited to the following:

Participate in meetings as a consultant including case conferences, the Interdisciplinary Mental Health Team or the Correctional Intervention Board and other related activities as requested;

Participate in CSC training, including orientation to CSC and CSC’s risk assessment requirements as requested;

Provide consultation services for the resolution of CSC internal offender grievance and investigative processes as requested; and

Prepare and submit psychological assessment and other reports as requested by the Project Authority.

Mental Health Counselling and/or Assessment Process in Institutional Sites: 

The Contractor must:

Assess and treat individual offenders;

Participate in discharge and release planning as requested;

Provide consultation to other health care providers to ensure continuity of care;

Provide consultation and advice on mental health services to the mental health team and/or management as requested;

Arrange, in advance, to conduct interviews, and file reviews at times mutually agreed upon with the Mental Health Department;

Prior to conducting any interview, the Contractor must review relevant files, including Psychology, Case Management, Discipline/Dissociation files and those stored electronically on the OMS.  The offender must be informed that the services to be provided are brief and that long-term follow-up (if deemed necessary) is the responsibility of the CSC Mental Health Department.

All cases will be assigned by the Project Authority or designate. The assignment of cases will include those requiring psychological segregation reviews and reports, short-term counselling, crisis intervention or any other clinical emergencies;

In all clinical work, the Contractor must make recommendations, in writing, regarding intervention strategies and based on the identification of presenting problems, diagnosis where relevant to risk, symptomatology, the nature of the referral question, and, risk for self-harm;

The Contractor must provide a verbal report to the Chief of the Mental Health Department and/or other pertinent staff immediately subsequent to the interview for any cases that are at risk of suicide/self-harm, or are obviously mentally ill or unstable;

With the exception of Segregation Reviews, the Contractor must submit written reports to the Project Authority within one week from the interview. The reports must be submitted to designated CSC staff in the format specified under information sharing. At the request of the Project Authority, the Contractor must place the reports directly on the OMS and submit signed copies of the OMS generated reports, to the Project Authority;

In the case of Segregation Reviews, The Contractor must carry out all work in a timely manner consistent with Commissioner's Directive 709, Section 69 and Annex E. The Contractor must complete and submit these reports to the Project Authority on the same day as the offender’s interview. 

Mental Health Screening and Assessment:

The Contractor must provide all assessment services on-site at the location designated by the Project Authority or designate;

The Contractor must obtain prior approval from the Project Authority or designate for all work related to follow-up interventions with acute cases;

The Project Authority will provide the battery of tests to be administered to offenders;

The Contractor must:

• Administer, as per the national guidelines and if required, the screening battery to new federal offenders within 72 hours to 14 days of admission;
• Provide interpretation of the screening tests as per the tests' respective manuals;
• Conduct follow-up interviews with offenders if indicated by the results of the screening battery in order to clarify the offenders' mental health needs;
• Based on the results of the screening battery, make the appropriate referrals for follow-up mental health services;
• Make recommendations to the Project Authority or designate on offenders concerning their suitability for normal association, transfer, specialized mental health treatment, risk of harm to self or others, and suitability for treatment and/or rehabilitation training;
• Provide professional advice to the Project Authority or designate on precautionary measures concerning the well-being of offenders (i.e. suicidal precautions, increased supervision and the safety of treatment staff);
• Provide consultative and emergency services up to an average of three hours per month at the request of the Project Authority or designate;

The Contractor must provide a type written summary based on the interpretation of the results of the screening battery;

The Contractor must provide a typewritten psychological assessment of an offender's mental health needs if indicated by the results of the screening battery;

The Contractor must provide typed reports on their clinical activities with the offenders to the CSC staff designated by the Project Authority. These reports must be available to CSC staff members according to the time frames established by the national guidelines for the screening battery; 

The Project Authority or designate reserves the right to request the above noted reports prior to the time frames established by the national guidelines for the screening battery in case of emergencies.

Deliverables:

Provide essential and non-essential mental health and/or psychological assessment or psychological risk assessment services to offenders, as requested by the Project Authority, at William Head Institution as a psychologist.

Treatment Orientation

The treatment/counselling orientation utilized by Correctional Service Canada (CSC) is cognitive-behavioural.  All psychological treatments offered to offenders by the contractors must be evidence-based with known application to offender populations. The principal focus of treatment will depend on the nature of the referral and the offender's needs. Although the usual objectives of treatment include the reduction of risk to reoffend, a priority should also be placed on the amelioration of the offender's mental health and emotional or behavioural functioning, including feelings, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours that moderately to severely impact or interfere with daily functioning. The offender's motivation for the index offence (particularly in cases of sexual offenders) should be addressed in this context.

The Contractor must perform all work in English.

Term of Contract: Period of the Contract: The Work is to be performed during the period of February 15, 2021 to February 14, 2022.

File Number: 21801-20-0201

Contracting Authority: Carmen Skolos

Telephone number: 604-870-2521

Facsimile number: 604-870-2444

E-mail: [email protected]

NOTE TO BIDDERS: Bidders can obtain the complete statement of work and evaluation criteria by downloading the solicitation document and associated documents from Buyandsell.gc.ca/tenders.

The Crown reserves the right to negotiate with suppliers on any procurement.

Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada (English or French).

Given the nature of the requirements, proposals submitted by such means as facsimile or electronic mail will not be accepted.

After contract award, bidders may request a debriefing on the results of the bid solicitation process. Bidders should make the request to the Contracting Authority within fifteen (15) working days of receipt of the results of the bid solicitation process. The debriefing may be in writing, by telephone or in person.

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