Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) Screening Services

North of England Commissioning Support (NECS) is managing this procurement process for and on behalf of NHS England Lancashire & Greater Manchester (the Contracting Authority).

The Contracting Authority proposed to commission Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) Screening Services within Greater Manchester and East Cheshire (GM&EC) and invited expressions of interest in this tender opportunity.

A process that mirrors that of the Open Procurement route was followed for this procurement to test the capacity, capability, and technical competence of tenderers in accordance with The Public Contracts Regulations 2006 (as amended). Regulation 120 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 provides for a temporary exemption and saving for certain NHS procurements. Regulation 120 provides that nothing in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 affects any contract award procedure that relates to the procurement of health care services for the purposes of the NHS within the meaning and scope of the National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No. 2) Regulations 2013(b), that is commenced before 18th April 2016 and any subsequent contract awarded as a result of such a procedure. The current Part B regime of the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 (as amended) and NHS (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No. 2) Regulations 2013(b) will continue to apply to the commissioning of these services until 18th April 2016.

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 apply for this contract.

Tenderers were advised to form their own view on whether TUPE applies, obtaining their own legal advice and carrying out due diligence, it is the Tenderers responsibility to verify TUPE information with the incumbent service provider.

"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 had been scoped to take into account the priorities of the Contracting Authority relating to economic, social, and environmental well-being. These priorities were described in the Invitation to Tender (ITT) and were reflected in environmental and social characteristics in the evaluation criteria for the award of the contract"

The deadline for submission of all tender returns was 12 noon on 19 November 2015.