Case Study · Essex County Council · Framework
Essex Live at Home Domiciliary Framework 2025 : Five Tier 2 Lots
Tier 2 places secured across five priority Essex districts in a single window. Standstill cleared without challenge.
From no Essex framework footprint → awarded 5 Tier 2 lots.
The Award Letter
Verified Source
Source: Essex County Council outcome letter issued via Essex Supplier Portal, reference 1038 / 2025/S 000-019527.
Section 01Case Overview
This case study analyses the route Choices Healthcare Limited took onto Essex County Council's Live at Home domiciliary framework, securing Tier 2 places across five priority districts in a single window under the Procurement Act 2023. Tier 1 entry was not achievable due to the in-area CQC rating profile at close, and the digital systems evidence that would have supported a stronger technology score had not been packaged for evaluator review.
Section 04Starting Gaps & Limitations
The CQC rating gap made Tier 1 unreachable at first close. Beyond the tier ceiling, the digital systems evidence — active and operationally documented — had not been surfaced in the format the evaluator required. The social value commitments had not been quantified against the Council's published Social Value Model requirements, and the method statements needed reframing from internal operational language into procurement-register evidence.
Section 08Our Role
We took the engagement as lead writer on all quality method statements, the digital systems evidence section, and the Social Value quantification. The provider supplied the operational substance. We packaged it into a Tier 2 submission that cleared the scoring threshold across all five districts, with a documented Tier 1 path built for the next refresh window.
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Section 12What Changed the Trajectory
The digital systems evidence was unpacked from operational documentation and restructured against the evaluator's specific scoring criteria. Social value commitments were quantified against the Council's model. The method statements were rewritten to the scoring rubric band descriptions rather than to internal operational language. The combination pushed the quality scores above the Tier 2 threshold across all five lots applied for.
Section 13Outcome Achieved
Choices Healthcare was confirmed onto Tier 2 across all five lots: Lot 1 Basildon, Lot 2 Braintree, Lot 4 Castle Point, Lot 6 Colchester and Lot 10 Rochford. The outcome letter was issued through the Essex Supplier Portal. The standstill closed without challenge and the framework went live for call-off opportunities.
Measurable Uplift
| Lot | District | Tier | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lot 1 | Basildon | Tier 2 | Awarded |
| Lot 2 | Braintree | Tier 2 | Awarded |
| Lot 4 | Castle Point | Tier 2 | Awarded |
| Lot 6 | Colchester | Tier 2 | Awarded |
| Lot 10 | Rochford | Tier 2 | Awarded |
The provider had no live framework presence in the five priority Essex districts and a limited inbound referral pipeline within Essex County Council commissioning. Tier 1 entry was not achievable due to the in-area CQC rating profile at close.
The provider holds Tier 2 framework places across Basildon, Braintree, Castle Point, Colchester and Rochford, with direct access to Council referral routes within the framework. The backbone evidence pack sits inside the organisation for future refresh windows.