NHS England West Midlands Provision of Diabetic Eye Screening

Arden & Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (A&GEM CSU) on behalf of NHS England West Midlands is carrying out an Open Procurement exercise for the commissioning of a local Diabetic Eye Screening Programme for NHS England West Midlands.

NHS England West Midlands is responsible for commissioning Section 7a public health services for the 1,713,667 people registered in Coventry, Warwickshire, Hereford and Worcestershire. This scope of this tender is to procure a single provider for diabetic eye screening services for this population.

Anticipated timeline milestones are:

1.Contract award – End October 2015 2.Service commencement date – 1st April 2016

Contract duration – 5 years (with an option to extend for a further 2 years) with an annual review.

Estimated Contract value excluding VAT is - 1,700,000 GBP per annum, with an Estimated total value excluding VAT for the contract duration of 5 years of 8,500,000 GBP

The aim of the NHS Diabetic Eye Screening Programme (DESP) is to reduce the risk of sight loss amongst people with diabetes by the prompt identification and effective treatment if necessary of sight threatening diabetic retinopathy, at the appropriate stage during the disease process.

Objectives will be achieved by delivering an evidence-based, population-based screening programme that:

• identifies the eligible population and ensures effective delivery with maximum coverage;
• is safe, effective, of a high quality, externally and independently monitored, and quality assured;
• leads to earlier detection, appropriate referral, effective treatment and improved outcomes;
• is delivered and supported by suitably trained, competent, and qualified, clinical and non-clinical staff who, where relevant, participate in recognised on-going Continuing Medical Education CME, Continuous Professional Development (CPD), and External Quality Assurance (EQA) schemes; and
• has audit embedded in the service.

It is envisaged that TUPE will apply to the contract.

Bidders must have the appropriate and active Care Quality Commission (CQC) registration for integrated healthcare.

Under the Health and Social Care Act 2012, providers of health care services in England are required to hold a licence issued by Monitor, unless they are exempt. As of April 2014, new regulations have come into force that set out the exemptions. It is the responsibility of the Bidder to determine if an exemption applies to them. This guidance aims to help providers decide whether they need to hold a licence or are exempt according to the new regulations. Information regarding this is available at weblink http://www.monitor.gov.uk/licence

Potential Bidders will be required to conform to this legislation.

The ITT documentation will be available from 15th July 2015 and should be completed by the closing date of 12 noon on the 19th August 2015. All submissions will be evaluated using pre-determined scoring criteria. The ITT reference is itt_252

Additional information: CPV codes:

Health services - 85100000 Optician services - 85160000

The Contracting Authority intends to use an eTendering system in this procurement exercise.

The services to which this notice relates fall within Part B of Schedule 3, Part 10 of the Public Services Contracts Regulations 2006 (as amended) ('the Regulations').

Neither the publication of this notice nor the employment of any particular terminology nor any other indication shall be taken to mean that the contracting authorities intend to hold themselves bound by any of the Regulations save those applicable to the procurement of Part B services. These opportunities may be divided into lots. Please see published documentation for further detail.

Suppliers Instructions How to Express Interest in this Tender:

• 1.Register your company on the eSourcing portal (this is only required once)
• Browse to the eSourcing Portal: https://gemcsu.bravosolution.co.uk and click the link to register
• Accept the terms and conditions and click ‘continue'
• Enter your correct business and user details
• Note the user-name you chose and click ‘Save' when complete
• You will shortly receive an e-mail with your unique password (please keep this secure)
• 2.Express an Interest in the tender
• Login to the portal with the user-name/password
• Click the ‘PQQs / ITTs Open To All Suppliers' link. (These are Pre-Qualification Questionnaires or Invitations to Tender open to any registered supplier)
• Click on the relevant PQQ/ ITT to access the content.
• Click the ‘Express Interest' button at the top of the page.
• This will move the PQQ /ITT into your ‘My PQQs/ My ITTs' page. (This is a secure area reserved for your projects only)
• You can now access any attachments by clicking ‘Buyer Attachments' in the ‘PQQ/ ITT

Details' box

• 3.Responding to the tender
• Click ‘My Response' under ‘PQQ/ ITT Details', you can choose to ‘Create Response' or to ‘Decline to Respond' (please give a reason if declining)
• You can now use the ‘Messages' function to communicate with the buyer and seek any clarification
• Note the deadline for completion, then follow the on-screen instructions to complete the PQQ/ ITT
• There may be a mixture of on-line and off-line actions for you to perform (there is detailed on-line help available)

You must then submit your reply using the ‘Submit Response' button at the top of the page.

If you require any further assistance please consult the on-line help, or contact the eTendering helpdesk