Intermediate Care Beds Service in Darlington

North of England Commissioning Support are working for and on behalf of NHS Darlington Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) who wish to commission an Intermediate Care Beds service for Darlington and is inviting expressions of interest in this tender opportunity.

The aims of Intermediate Care Beds service is to:

To promote independence by providing rehabilitation and care within the most appropriate setting;

To promote good health and wellbeing;

To avoid unnecessary/inappropriate admissions to hospital, residential or long term care;

To promote timely recovery from illness or injury;

To facilitate timely hospital discharge from any acute service setting.

It has been determined that the procurement exercise will be divided into two separate Lots to satisfy the service needs, as detailed below:

Lot 1 – Darlington Property A (1 X 5 Block Beds and 1 X 5 Spot Beds)

Lot 2 – Darlington Property B (1 X 5 Block Beds and 1 X 5 Spot Beds)

The contract is for an initial 1year plus the option to extend the contract for a period of 1 x 1 year at the discretion of the Contracting Authority subject to satisfactory financial and contractual performance.

Please note the deadline for submission of all tender returns is 12 noon on 19.2.2016.

A bidder event will be held on Monday 1 February 2016 between 10:00 – 12:00 at NHS Darlington CCG,

Board Room,

Dr Piper House

King Street

Darlington

DL3 6JL

Bidders will be provided with an overview of the aims and objectives of the new service, an overview of the tender documentation and procurement process. Further information regarding registration for this event can be located within Document 1 of the tender documentation.

NECS is utilising an electronic tendering tool to gather expressions of interest. Therefore, all communications will be conducted via the In-Tend portal, https://in-tendhost.co.uk/necs. It is free to register on the portal, which can be accessed at any time. A dedicated help-desk is available should potential providers have any queries and can be contacted on +44 8442728810 (Monday to Friday 8:00 to 17:00) or via emailing support@in-tend.co.uk

Additional information: Please note this is a voluntary notice as healthcare services are currently Part B regime in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 (as amended), and therefore compliance to the full regulations is not mandatory. The new Public Contracts Regulations 2015 are now in force however there is a delay in application of the Light Touch Regime (LTR) to the commissioning of health services for the purposes of the NHS. Draft regulation 118 provides that the LTR will only apply to the procurement (“commissioning”) of health services for the purposes of the NHS from 18 April 2016. The basic principles of the Open Procedure will be followed to commission the Intermediate Care Beds service thus ensuring a fair, open and transparent process in accordance with NHS (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No. 2) Regulations 2013.

It is anticipated that the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 as amended by the Collective Redundancies and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 (TUPE) may not apply for this contract. Bidders are advised to form their own view on whether TUPE applies, obtaining their own legal advice and carrying out due diligence, it is the bidders responsibility to verify TUPE information with the incumbent service provider (details of which will be provided in the Tender Documentation).

"Under the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 the Contracting Authority must consider:

• (a)how what is proposed to be procured might improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of the area where it exercises its functions, and

• (b)how, in conducting the process of procurement, it might act with a view to securing that improvement.

Accordingly, the subject matter of the contract has been scoped to take into account the priorities of the Contracting Authority relating to economic, social, and environmental well-being. These priorities are described in the Invitation to Tender and are reflected in environmental and social characteristics in the evaluation criteria for the award of the contract.