Contract

ENHT & HCT - Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Assessments

  • Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust
  • East & North Hertfordshire NHS Trust

F03: Contract award notice

Notice identifier: 2024/S 000-018531

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-043c97

Published 14 June 2024, 5:24pm



Section one: Contracting authority

one.1) Name and addresses

Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust

Unit 1A Howard Court, 14 Tewin Road

Welwyn Garden City

AL7 1BW

Contact

Jessica Jordan

Email

jessica.jordan@nhs.net

Country

United Kingdom

Region code

UKH - East of England

Internet address(es)

Main address

https://www.hct.nhs.uk/

Buyer's address

https://www.hct.nhs.uk/

one.1) Name and addresses

East & North Hertfordshire NHS Trust

Lister Hospital, Coreys Mill Lane,

Stevenage, Herts,

SG1 4AB

Email

jessica.jordan@nhs.net

Country

United Kingdom

Region code

UKH - East of England

Internet address(es)

Main address

https://www.enherts-tr.nhs.uk/

Buyer's address

https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome

one.2) Information about joint procurement

The contract involves joint procurement

In the case of joint procurement involving different countries, state applicable national procurement law

English

one.4) Type of the contracting authority

Body governed by public law

one.5) Main activity

Health


Section two: Object

two.1) Scope of the procurement

two.1.1) Title

ENHT & HCT - Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Assessments

Reference number

C249206

two.1.2) Main CPV code

  • 85100000 - Health services

two.1.3) Type of contract

Services

two.1.4) Short description

This notice is an intention to award a contract under the competitive process.

Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust (HCT) and East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust (ENHT) have a backlog of children who require an Autism diagnostic assessment.
The Trusts are working with the Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board to outsource some of these children and young people (CYP) in an effort to reduce their waiting time for an assessment and to enable the implementation of a revised diagnostic pathway.
As such, the Trusts have undergone a compliant tender process to award an appropriately qualified company who can complete assessments for CYP over 5 years to assist with the backlog and provide ongoing assessments as required. The Trusts have sought a value for money, high quality service that will be responsive to the needs of the client.
The opportunity is broken down into 4 lots; 2 for each Trust. Two lots require that the provider must have Consultant Paediatricians/Paediatricians as part of the team.
It is expected that the assessments will be a combination of face to face and virtual assessments (face to face only for 5- and 6-year-olds).
Robust contract management and good effective liaison with the Trust’s key contact will be required.
The contract is anticipated to go live summer of 2024 and it is expected that the contract term will be for one year with the option to extend for a further +1 + 1 years.

Throughout the process it was stated the Trusts reserve the right to award a contract to more than one supplier to meet the capacity demands either at the tender stage or thereafter and that the Trusts would place orders with the most economically viable bidder(s) and their ability to meet the capacity required within each lot.
No assurances were given from either Trust to any provider that they will get any number of orders or guaranteed a minimum or maximum value of orders.

two.1.6) Information about lots

This contract is divided into lots: No

two.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)

Value excluding VAT: £500,000

two.2) Description

two.2.3) Place of performance

NUTS codes
  • UKH - East of England

two.2.4) Description of the procurement

This notice is an intention to award a contract under the competitive process.

The Supplier will be required to carry out Autism diagnostic assessments on the cohort of children that is provided to them on behalf of the Trusts, at the scale required and within the timeframes of delivery.
The Supplier will be required to outline where the assessments will take place, whether these will these be face to face Autism diagnostic assessments or virtual.
The Supplier will be an expert provider of NICE compliant Autism Diagnostic assessments and will be familiar with all methods and diagnostic tools used. Part of the service will include providing feedback and a completed report to the parents and child/young person, as well as a copy of the final report to the family GP and HCT or ENHT Community Paediatrics team for their records.
The Supplier will provide monthly updates in a format agreed by the Trusts, reporting on completed assessments, summarising the number of children diagnosed, those who have not attended their appointment and those whose assessment has resulted in a non-diagnosis.
The Supplier shall performance monitor their activities/ services to demonstrate that the Services are achieved and where not achieved the extent of any shortfall is identified, reported and acted upon. Detailed supporting information will be made available to the Trusts should it be required, and all reports must be provided in the manner prescribed and in accordance with GDPR legislation, to ensure that the Trusts are able to access data as and when required.
Upon contract engagement, each of the Trusts will undertake 5 Quality Assurance Assessments to assure standards of assessments and clinical reporting.

This is an existing service and provider.
The service duration is not set and will depend upon the number of CYP cases needing assessment.

Approximate lifetime value of the contract: £0-£750,000

two.2.5) Award criteria

Price

two.2.11) Information about options

Options: No

two.2.13) Information about European Union Funds

The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No

two.2.14) Additional information

The contract award criteria are specified in the procurement documents.


Section four. Procedure

four.1) Description

four.1.1) Type of procedure

Open procedure

four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No

four.2) Administrative information

four.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure

Notice number: 2024/S 000-005998


Section five. Award of contract

A contract/lot is awarded: Yes

five.2) Award of contract

five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract

14 June 2024

five.2.2) Information about tenders

Number of tenders received: 23

Number of tenders received from SMEs: 23

Number of tenders received from tenderers from other EU Member States: 0

Number of tenders received from tenderers from non-EU Member States: 23

Number of tenders received by electronic means: 23

The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No

five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor

The Owl Centre Limited

16 Main Street, Fishguard, Pembrokeshire

Fishguard

SA65 9HJ

Email

charlotteforsyth@theowltherapycentre.co.uk

Telephone

+44 1242571883

Country

United Kingdom

NUTS code
  • UKL - Wales
National registration number

07880303

Internet address

https://theowltherapycentre.co.uk/

The contractor is an SME

Yes

five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot (excluding VAT)

Initial estimated total value of the contract/lot: £500,000

Total value of the contract/lot: £500,000


Section six. Complementary information

six.3) Additional information

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. The publication of this notice marks the start of the standstill period. Representations by providers must be made to the relevant authority by 23:59pm Wednesday 26th June 2024. This contract has not yet formally been awarded; this notice serves as an intention to award a contract under the competitive process of the PSR.

Written representations should be sent via the Message Centre on the Atamis Portal.

Award Decision-makers: 5 key Trust stakeholders
Conflicts of interest identified among the Trust stakeholders: 0.
As there were not conflicts all members evaluated the bids received.

The supplier provided the most economically advantageous solution.

six.4) Procedures for review

six.4.1) Review body

The High Court

The Strand

London

WC2A 2LL

Country

United Kingdom

Internet address

https://www.judiciary.uk/courts-and-tribunals/high-court/