For The the Provision of Nursery Milk Reimbursement Unit.

The Department of Health seeks tenders for the provision of a registration and reimbursement service to childcare services who provide free milk to children attending for more than two hours per day and wish to claimpayment for this milk through the Welfare Food Scheme.

This contract replaces an existing service, however the Department is seeking to modernise the existing servicemethodology and is seeking flexible and incentivised ways to deliver the envisaged reimbursement service.

The current services operate in England, Scotland and Wales only, with registration/reimbursement of childcareproviders in Northern Ireland managed separately by DHSSPSNI.

As part of the service particular importance is attached to the delivery of an effective anti fraud strategy for thescheme.

Estimated cost excluding VAT:

Range: between 900 000 and 1 150 000 GBP. This contract is NOT divided into lots.

Additional information: This is a pre-invitation to tender (ITT) stage for a supplier information day, the purpose of which is to engagewith service providers to provide an opportunity to:

1. obtain a clear understanding of what business outcomes DH requires and ask questions regarding theproposed scope of work;
2. obtain market views on how to structure the requirement to enable DH to maximise market interest,innovation and value for money.

The Department intends to hold a supplier engagement event on Wednesday 24th June 2015, at 10.30am (registration from 10am)

At: Bloomsbury House, 2-3 Bloomsbury Square, London, WC1A 2RL. This will involve a two-way group discussion including presentations and Q&A sessions before individual briefings are held on a one to one basis via telephone conference calls (where suppliers are unable toattend) or face to face meetings. The date will be confirmed in due course. All service providers should registertheir interest in attending the briefing by emailing: paul.bywater@dh.gsi.gov.uk no later than Friday 19th June2015, providing:

1. company and contact details of the person(s) wishing to attend;
2. a single paragraph summary of your organisation's experience including whether you are a Small to MediumEnterprise (SME).

Notes of the day including all questions and answers will be made available for those who are unable to attendor dial into a briefing.

A draft Service Specification and Introductory Briefing Paper is attached to this notice for download .

This notice is for information only and the Department reserves the right to discontinue the proposed tenderingprocess and not to award the contract. The information contained in this notice, including information relating tothe nature and scope of the DH's requirements, the service classification of this requirement or the list of CPV codes is only indicative of DH's current thinking and is neither exhaustive nor binding and DH reserves the rightat its absolute discretion to amend it at the time of issue of any further notices or at any other time.

The publication of this notice in no way obliges DH to commence with any competitive tender process. The DHis not and shall not be liable for any costs incurred by those expressing any interest in participating in the marketconsultation exercise advertised in this notice.

Potential suppliers should note that, in accordance with Government policies on transparency, DH intends to publish the Invitation to tender (ITT) documents, and the text of any contract awarded, subject to redactions at the discretion of DH.

Further information on transparency can be found at http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/transparencyoverview