NHS Halton CCG - GP Access Fund (GP Extra)

NHS Halton CCG - GP Access Fund (GP Extra)

NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit (CSU) is working on behalf of NHS Halton CCG for a GP Access Fund for patients living in the Borough.

NHS England has introduced a new initiative called "GP Access Fund" with the aim that no patient should have to attend A&E as a walk-in patient as a result of being unable to get an appointment with a GP. NHS Halton CCG is looking for a provider of Primary Care services as part of NHS England's initiative. NHS England have developed 7 core national requirements for the delivery of the Access Fund in order to bring parity to the Access Fund offer across the country and these requirements are:

• Timing of Appointments
• Capacity
• Measurement
• Advertising and ease of access
• Digital
• Inequalities
• Effective Access to wider whole-system services

This service will be accessible by all of the patients of the 14 GP practices that are covered by NHS Halton CCG. The GP Access Fund Services will improve access and experience for patients by providing additional capacity for pre-bookable and also urgent on the day appointments, which are more convenient for patients and offer shorter waits, both during and outside traditional general practice hours. These appointments will be evening appointments from Monday to Friday between the hours of 18:30 and 21:00 and also during Saturdays and Sundays from 09:00 to 15:00.

Potential suppliers should be aware that clarifications to the documents should be submitted before 12pm on Friday 17th August 2018 and Selection Questionnaires should be submitted before 12pm on Friday 24th August 2018.

There will be an initial contract period of 1 year commencing on 1st April 2019. There will be the option to extend for a further 1-year period. The contract value is set at £1.444M over the entire 2-year contract period.

Submission of the Selection Questionnaire and procurement specific information: this exercise will be conducted on the Midlands and Lancashire CSU portal at https://mlcsu.bravosolution.co.uk

Candidates wishing to be considered must register their expression of interest & provide additional procurement-specific information (by registering on the Bravo portal). Candidates should register on the portal at https://mlcsu.bravosolution.co.uk (registration and use of the website is free of charge). If your organisation has registered previously, you do not need to re-register.

For technical support in submitting your expression of interest contact the Bravo Solution Help-desk on 0800 368 4850 or E-mail: help@bravosolution.co.uk.

Additional information: This procurement is for Social and other specific services which are Light Touch Regime services for the purpose of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 as specified in Schedule 3 of the Regulations ('Regulations') http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/102/schedule/3/made

Accordingly, the Contracting Authority is only bound by those parts of the Regulations detailed in Chapter 3 Particular Procurement Regimes Section 7 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/102/part/2/chapter/3/made

The Contracting Authority is not voluntarily following any other part of the Regulations.

As the CCG is a relevant body for the purpose of the National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No 2) Regulations 2013 these Regulations also apply to this procurement.

Right to Cancel: The Contracting Authority reserves the right to discontinue the procurement process at any time, which shall include the right not to award a contract or contracts, and does not bind itself to accept the lowest tender, or any tender received, and reserves the right to award a contract in part, or to call for new tenders should it consider this necessary.

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 in the completion or submission of any tender, irrespective of the outcome of the competition or if the competition is cancelled or postponed.

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.

In addition, and in accordance with the UK Government's policies on transparency, the contracting authority intends to publish procurement documentation and the text of any resulting contractual arrangements, subject to possible redactions at the discretion of the Contracting Authority.

Any redactions, whether in relation to information requests under FOIA, the EIR or policies on transparency will be in accordance with those grounds prescribed under the Freedom of Information Act. If and when this requirement is offered to tender, this will be done via electronic means using the internet. Midlands and Lancashire CSU is conducting this procurement exercise as a central purchasing body for another NHS body with whom the successful bidder(s) will enter into contracts for the supply of the services.

Any other public-sector body detailed within this notice, wishing to access the contract may do so only with permission from the contracting NHS body.

Further details will be made available v