Psychological Risk Assessments

This requirement is for: The Correctional Service of Canada, Atlantic Region, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

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 psychological assessment and/or treatment services to offenders and collaborate with the interdisciplinary health services team that includes, but is not limited to nursing, psychology, social work, occupational therapy and other allied healthcare professionals. Collaboration with the case management team is also essential and in community sites, the treatment/supervision team also includes the Parole Officer Supervisor, Parole Officer, and the CSC staff psychologist and/or the Project Authority.

Objectives: 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 Institution(s):

Dorchester Complex, Dorchester New Brunswick

Atlantic Institution, Renous, New Brunswick

Springhill Institution, Springhill, Nova Scotia

Deliverables:

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;

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

Psychological Risk Assessment Services:

The Contractor must perform and submit psychological risk assessment reports to the CSC Project Authority and designates for sharing with third parties including the Parole Board of Canada;

Dates and times for offender interviews will be set by mutual agreement between the Project Authority and the Contractor;

The Contractor must conduct assessment interviews, administer all psychological tests (unless prearranged for self-report measure – see part f, below), interpret test results, and review offender files. Relevant files include Sentence Management, Case Management, and Psychology files. However, on occasion and if relevant to the specific case, the Contractor must review the Health Care and Security Intelligence files or, alternatively, consult with Health Care and/or Security Intelligence staff about the offender. Consultation with other CSC personnel about the offenders’ referral and/or behaviour might also be necessary. The Contractor must integrate information obtained through testing, file review, clinical interview, and if relevant, staff member interviews, into a comprehensive psychological risk assessment report;

The Contractor must provide the Project Authority and designates with all original test data;

The Contractor must use the file-based Statistical Instrument in Recidivism – Revised (SIR-R) test results if available on file (the SIR-R does not apply to Aboriginal and Women offenders), at least one other clinician rated actuarial measure measuring risk and needs that has been shown to be reliable and valid for use with offender populations according to published work, as well as measures of personality and intellectual functioning. The Contractor must interpret all tests in a standardized manner with the use of norms supplied by the test publisher and/or author only. Placement of percentiles tests scores in reports is acceptable when deemed necessary by the Contractor, as part of the standardized test reporting process, or when requested by the Project Authority. Reports must not contain raw test scores under any circumstances;

In the event that the Contractor negotiates with a particular site to have CSC staff administer self-report measures including those assessing personality and intellectual functioning, or to have them provide recent relevant scores from in-house test administration, and thus does not administer these tests, the Contractor shall apply a discount of 5 % per assessment, for each relevant case.

Psychological Risk Assessment reports must comply with the following requested content and format. Sections may be added to the standardized format according to case-specific needs. Please note that this format is not necessarily all-inclusive, but represents the minimum number of areas to be covered:

i. Demographic information: Full name, age, date of birth, FPS number and ethnicity if relevant;

ii. Reason for Referral: Specific referral criteria, source and date of referral, document that the limits of confidentiality (informed consent) have been discussed with the offender, sharing of information;

iii. Interview Information: Date(s) seen, location of interview and the length of the interview(s);

1. Documentation Reviewed: Indicate briefly what critical documents were reviewed for the assessment as well as what critical information or documents were, or were not, available to the author;

2. Brief Criminal History: A one to two paragraph synopsis of the criminal history, making reference to key files and documents. Include a brief overview/description of current offenses (official and offender versions; if they differ, otherwise indicate whether offender accepts official version), victim impact statements (if available), patterns/dynamics involved in or influencing criminal and/or offending behaviour(s) and the offender’s understanding of these dynamics/patterns;

3. Institutional and/or Community Adjustment: A one to two paragraph synopsis of institutional and/or community adjustment, making note of a reference to the files for the interested reader should detailed information be required. Includes as applicable adjustment to the prison setting (e.g., relationships with peers, program involvement, misconducts, etc.) and adjustment/functioning in the community (e.g., employment, supports, programming, suspensions, etc.).

vii. Brief Psychosocial History: Provide the elements of the history which contribute to the analysis of risk. Include, as applicable, a brief overview of family, marital, school, employment, psychiatric/mental health, substance abuse, behavioural and adjustment problems, medical injuries and impairments. Given the need for brevity, the focus should be on elements directly relating to risk while making note of a reference to the files for the interested reader can access should more detailed information be required. 

viii. Interview Impressions/Mental Health: Comment on presentation during interview, current mental and emotional functioning, a brief overview of mental health history, including history of self-harm (if applicable) as well as an assessment of self-harm risk and management strategies (if applicable) and any circumstances that would increase this risk. Management strategies for other mental health issues should be provided as applicable. 

ix. Summary of Previous Assessments: : A brief summary of findings of previous psychological and/or psychiatric risk assessment reports with a focus on patterns of and antecedents of crime (dynamic and static risk factors), and offence dynamics and the offender’s understanding of these dynamics.

x. Cognitive Functioning and Personality: A brief synopsis of psychological tests administered and their validity, interpretation, and diagnosis where appropriate and applicable.

xi. Treatment Needs/Responsivity: Identify treatment needs areas specifically related to the offender’s risk, areas of strengths as well as the relationship between risk and need. The type and intensity of intervention required, prioritization of treatment needs, special needs with respect to treatment delivery, and responsivity factors should be described. This typically involves consideration of issues such as age, ethnicity, cognitive deficits and/or learning style, interpersonal style, mental health, motivation and prior treatment experiences as applicable. The Contractor should also document indicators/examples of behavioural and attitudinal changes since incarceration in both positive and negative directions as applicable.

xii. Assessment of Risk, Risk Management Strategies and Recommendations: The results of the actuarial measures (both static and dynamic) used in the current assessment must be summarized in this section and must include an overall statement of risk that is congruent with guidelines or a current manual (if applicable) and empirical data associated with the tool(s) that was used. Reporting of percentile scores is acceptable while reporting of raw scores in the report is not acceptable under any circumstances. If applicable, an explanation should be given of any significant variance between the current results and those reported in earlier reports. This section of the report should also include an opinion on how risk could be best managed. This should reflect both actuarial and clinical factors, identification of risk factors and protective factors, assessment of institutional and community risk issues, and case-specific risk management strategies, including critical aspects of a relapse prevention plan, if applicable, and referrals to correctional programs, psychiatry, training programs, etc.

The offender’s ability to function in reduced security and/or on conditional release (including, but not limited to Statutory Release) should be considered, recognizing not only his/her personal needs, but also the community’s safety.

The Contractor should comment on ongoing treatment needs, whether special conditions such as abstinence from drugs or alcohol would be required, or any special residential, outpatient or other welfare needs that should be met in preparation for release or as a part of reintegration.

If the offender’s behaviour begins to deteriorate, the Contractor should render an opinion on what would be the kinds of situations within the community to which the offender would become most vulnerable. As well, if the offender is on medication, the Contractor should advise what would be the likely early signs of the offender’s failure to maintain to medication as prescribed and what would be the general, early signs of deterioration in conduct and whether or not this might indicate a drift back into criminal behavior;

xiii. Offender and Contractor Signature Block: The Contractor must sign the report and copies. Unless pre-arranged with the Project Authority, the Contractor must share the information with the offender and request that the offender sign the report to acknowledge that the information has been shared. CSC will distribute copies of the report in accordance with policy requirements.

The Contractor must only make recommendations for mental health counselling in instances where the offender is at acute risk of self-harm or harm to others, where there is a clear need for such counselling to assist the offender in maintaining mental and emotional stability or as it pertains to criminogenic factors and risk. Recommendations for counselling should be generic as to the practitioner who will be providing the service and for community release cases must take into account the offender's motivation (i.e., motivated offenders will not need this as a condition of parole). Should it be felt that mental health counselling must be a condition of parole, it must be established in the report that: 

i. The offender needs such counselling for safe reintegration; and 

ii. It is necessary to impose such a condition to ensure that the offender participates. 

All recommendations for counselling must include the reason for the need for this service, the goals, and comments on the possible duration;

The Contractor must share the final report with the assessed offender. The Contractor must document that information sharing has occurred by having the offender sign and date the original report. If the offender refuses to sign, the Contractor must note this on the report and information sharing requirements will be considered to have been met.

The Contractor must advise the Project Authority if he/she is unable to share the reports and coordinate signatures with the offender. At the discretion and prior approval of the project authority, CSC will assume the information sharing and offender signature responsibility.

The Project Authority or designate will refer any questions or concerns the offender has on the report back to the attention of the Contractor. While under contract with CSC, the Contractor must answer questions posed by an offender regarding a report for a two (2) year period after sharing the report.

The Contractor must submit completed reports to the Project Authority or designate no later than four (4) weeks from the date of referral. The Contractor must share the completed report with the offender no later than 2 weeks after initially interviewing the offender. Upon request of the Contractor, and at the sole discretion of the Project Authority, either or both of these deadlines can be extended for a period not exceeding four (4) weeks.

The CSC Mental Health Department will enter finalized psychological risk assessment reports into OMS, and ensure that a copy has been share-printed to the Parole Board of Canada. 

If requested by the Project Authority or designates, the Contractor must submit a completed emergency risk assessment no later than five (5) business days from the date of referral.

CSC is required to complete Judicial Review Risk Assessments for some offenders. At the request of the Project Authority, the Contractor must complete a Judicial Review Risk Assessment and assume any future court costs related to the case assessed.

The Contractor must collect information related to the dynamics of the offence, identify treatment needs and risk factors and determine the sexual offender's suitability for individual or group treatment programming. These assessments can also be carried out at intake or pre-release. When a an assessment of a sexual offender is requested the Contractor must provide, in addition to the above content, a comprehensive description of psycho-sexual development, sexual misconduct and offenses.

Specific content references to be included but not limited to in this description would be: history and development of sexual behaviour, information pertaining to prior child abuse, domestic abuse or violence against women perpetrated by the offender whether sexual or otherwise, information pertaining to co-offending and the relationship with the current sexual offense or sexual offense pattern, any attitudes supportive of sexual offending and sexual abuse, relationship problems particularly as they relate to intimacy deficits and social competence, factors relevant to their sexual offending (i.e., sexual self-regulation, intimacy issues, general self-regulation), general antisocial characteristics and psychopathology that may influence sexual offending and misbehaviour, and relevant medical history. Previous assessment results, including assessment of deviant sexual preference and prior programming results should also be considered. Psychological risk assessments of sexual offenders should attend to risk variables based on empirically based, clinician-rated measures of actuarial, static and dynamic risk that focus on sex offence specific factors where possible.

For male sex offenders, it is mandatory for the Contractor to use the STATIC-99R for all sexual offender risk assessments (including non-contact offenders, but not offenders exclusively involved in child pornography). Dynamic risk must be assessed using a clinician rated actuarial measure that has been shown to be reliable and valid (e.g., STABLE-2007, VRS-SO or the RSVP). For cases where there is currently limited data specific to that population (e.g., child pornography only offenders) then the Contractor must use a measure that is based on the available evidence (e.g., CPORT). No sex offending risk and recidivism actuarial measures are to be used for women sex offenders.

Term of Contract:

Period of the Contract: The Work is to be performed during the period of March 1stFebruary 29, 2020 with the option to renew for four (4) additional one-year periods.

File Number: 21201-19-3060961

Contracting Authority: Lise Bourque

Telephone number: 506-851-6977

Facsimile number: 506-851-6327

E-mail: Lise.Bourque@csc-scc.gc.ca

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.

The Office of Small and Medium Enterprises (OSME) offers seminars to businesses interested in learning how to sell goods and services to the Government of Canada. The seminars are FREE.

Topics include:

Ÿ Overview of the federal government contracting process;

Ÿ Searching for opportunities on the Buy and Sell - Tenders website;

Ÿ Bidding on opportunities;

Ÿ Registering in supplier databases.

The full schedule of seminars can be found on the Buyandsell.gc.ca website, under Event Calendar (https://buyandsell.gc.ca/event-calendar).