Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
NHS Cheshire & Merseyside Integrated Care Board
No 1 Lakeside, 920 Centre Park
Warrington
WA1 1QY
Contact
Helen Graham
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UKD61 - Warrington
NHS Organisation Data Service
QYG
Internet address(es)
Main address
https://www.cheshireandmerseyside.nhs.uk/
Buyer's address
https://www.cheshireandmerseyside.nhs.uk/
one.3) Communication
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, at
https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome
Additional information can be obtained from the above-mentioned address
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
Cheshire East and Vale Royal GP Special Allocation Scheme (SAS) Service
Reference number
WHISP-337
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 85121000 - Medical practice services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
NHS Cheshire & Merseyside ICB is conducting an initial engagement exercise to establish potential interest to deliver a GP Special Allocation Scheme (SAS) Service in Cheshire East Place and the Vale Royal area of Cheshire West Place.
two.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT: £59,500
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.2) Description
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKD62 - Cheshire East
- UKD63 - Cheshire West and Chester
Main site or place of performance
Cheshire East Place
Vale Royal area of Cheshire West Place
For information about the geographic areas this service will cover, please visit the ICB's website www.cheshireandmerseyside.nhs.uk
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
NHS Cheshire & Merseyside ICB is conducting an initial engagement exercise to establish potential interest to deliver a GP Special Allocation Scheme (SAS) Service in Cheshire East Place and the Vale Royal area of Cheshire West Place.
For information about the geographic areas this service will cover, please visit the ICB's website www.cheshireandmerseyside.nhs.uk
The GP Special Allocation Scheme is for patients who have been referred by their existing GP. There are currently 27 patients that are being treated in the Scheme.
The service is currently delivered by two different providers, and these contacts are due to expire on 31st March 2025. The ICB is currently considering whether to offer this opportunity as one contact in its entirety.
The ICB is also considering extending existing arrangements whilst it explores the outcome of this call for expressions of interest and Provider Selection Regime procurement options for longer term commissioning of this service.
Full details of the service are set out in the draft Service Specification within Annex 1 - please see information later in this section regarding how to access this documentation. The service provider would be expected to have sufficient staff with competencies and skills to treat the patients within the Scheme.
The proposed contact duration is 4 years and 6 months to end 30th September 2029 with the option to extend for a further 4-year period with mutual consent.
The proposed contract value is based on the following offered costs:
£2,000 retainer per annum
£88.00 In-hours consultation per patient
£110.20 Out of hours consultation per patient
£50 Telephone consultation per patient
The above rates will equate to approximately £16,000 per annum for the entire patient cohort. The total contract value for the 4-year 6-month contract period plus the optional 4-year extension period is expected to be £136,000. This contract value is subject to final confirmation by the ICB.
It is possible that TUPE may apply to the award of any new contract for the above service.
Potentially interested parties are invited to feedback their comments with regard to their interest, capacity, capability and readiness in delivering these services in Cheshire; and to attend a provider engagement presentation at 1pm on Tuesday 14th January 2025 via MS Teams. If providers wish to attend the session, further details will be supplied to any organisation who answers "yes" to question 4 (please see below).
Commissioners wish to understand:
1. Organisation name
2. Organisation contact details
- Contact name
- Phone number
- Email address
- Postal Address
3. Are you currently providing a Special Allocation Scheme for patients within Cheshire & Merseyside, or elsewhere? Are you providing any other services under an APMS Contract?
If so, please state which Commissioner your contract is with and provide contract start and end dates?
4. Would your organisation like to register for a bidder engagement presentation to be held at 1pm on Tuesday 14th January 2025 via MS Teams?
5. If your organisation bid for the contract, would it bid for East Cheshire, Vale Royal, or both areas?
For information about the geographic areas this service will cover, please visit the ICB's website www.cheshireandmerseyside.nhs.uk
6. Does you organisation have the capability, capacity and readiness to provide the service as per the draft service specification across Cheshire East and the area of Vale Royal? If so, please provide further details. (The Service Specification will be accessible in the 'Documents' section within the Atamis project C326284.) Please provide a short overview of your area of expertise and previous experience of delivering Special Allocation Scheme Services.
7. Please share any comments or feedback that you may have on the draft service specification based on your experience.
8. Taking into account the potential number of patients that are referred to the Special Allocation Scheme and the quality of service provision required as per the draft specification, do you consider your organisation able to provide this service within the stated financial envelope over the full contract term?
Providers are requested to answer these questions within the Atamis requirements section when registering interest
(via https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome ref C326284) by 12:00 hours on Wednesday 8th January 2025.
NHS Cheshire & Merseyside ICB is not bound to follow any particular procurement process at this stage. Responding to this EOI will not guarantee providers further involvement in any future process the ICB decides to follow.
Should this Early Engagement lead to a Procurement process, providers will be required to register interest for this separately and should not rely on their response to this PIN notice. The ICB has not determined which Procurement process to follow at this stage of Early Engagement.
Details will be made available via documentation and information released on the Atamis portal.
To express interest, please register via Atamis e-sourcing portal https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome.
Atamis Project Reference: C326284
Should providers have any queries, or having problems using the portal, they should contact the Helpdesk at:
Phone: 0800 9956035
E-mail: support-health@atamis.co.uk
The following details can be found within the Atamis project C326284;
• Requirements - Questions
• Annex 1 - Draft Service Specification
two.3) Estimated date of publication of contract notice
31 January 2025
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No
Section six. Complementary information
six.3) Additional information
Provider Selection Regime: The Integrated Care Board (ICB) is aware of its transparency obligations under The Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. Please note for those providers expressing interest for these services, this does not guarantee that there will not be a requirement to register for any future provider selection process. This Expression of Interest notice is not confirmation that the ICB will take further action, and providers should not rely on their response to this Expressions of Interest notice as confirmation that the ICB will proceed further. Furthermore, although the ICB is conducting this market engagement exercise, it is under no obligation to implement any suggestions from providers.
All details provided by the ICB are in draft format, the ICB reserves the right to change/amend any aspect of the requirement prior to any potential future procurement activity. The ICB also reserves the right to discontinue the market engagement process at any time, which shall include the right not to award a contract or contracts and reserves the right to award a contract in part or to call for a new Market Engagement process.
This notice is issued subject to Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. Please note that any subsequent contract emanating from this notice will be subject to these Regulations. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 will not apply to any future award.
The Contracting Authority shall not be liable for any costs or expenses incurred by any candidate or tenderer in connection with the completion and return of the information requested in this Contract Notice, or attendance at any meetings or events either virtually or in person.
All dates, time periods and values specified in this notice are provisional and the Contracting Authority reserves the right to change these.
Transparency: The Contracting Authority is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) and may be required to disclose information received in the course of this procurement under FOIA or the EIR.