Public Health Nursing Services: 0-19s (25s)

Current arrangements mean that the contracts for both Health Visiting (0-5) and School Nursing (5-19) are due to end on the 31st September 2017. In order to maximise outcomes for local children Reading Borough Council is moving to full integration with Children's Centres and a range of early intervention services and to develop a jointly managed service - achieving integration through collaboration and creating a single service offer for families.

This arrangement will:

• i.Strengthen strategic and operational alignment with RBC's Children's Services, securing stronger integration with the Council's Children's Centres and Early Help Services and maximise skill mix based on the available evidence around early intervention and family focussed care.

• ii.Improve opportunities to maximise efficiency and reduce costs at points of delivery e.g. reduction of duplication of roles in teams, rationalisation of management costs and building use.

• iii.Improve the chance of reaching early intervention and prevention outcomes due to better information sharing, aligned assessment and referral processes that will identify families for targeted support earlier.

Organisations who wish to express an interest in submitting a tender for this contract should complete and submit the expression of interest questionnaire in the Council's Intend e-tendering system. Interested organisations are asked to self-certify that they can meet the minimum requirements of the selection scheme which is enclosed as a separate document in the project. The Council will not be issuing any further OJEU advertisement.

In order for organisations to decide whether or not they wish to express an interest we have included the following documents:

• oDraft Specification - this is still in draft form, but the Council will not make any material changes in any final version without publishing a further contract notice

• oSelection Questionnaire - organisations submitting an expression of interest will be required to complete the selection questionnaire at the tender stage. This questionnaire will not be further amended except as a result of issues raised by potential tenderers through the clarification process of this PIN stage.

• oSelection stage evaluation scheme - this document sets out the minimum requirements that organisations will be required to meet in order to pass the selection stage of the tender process. Any organisation that fails to meet these minimum standards will not pass the selection stage and their tender will be rejected.

These documents have been provided to help interested organisations decide whether or not they will meet the selection criteria before expressing an interest in being invited to tender. Interested organisations do not need to complete the selection questionnaire at this stage. It is provided for information only. The contract will be awarded on a standard NHS Public Health form cont...

Additional information:

Organisations interested in expressing an interest should download the procurement documents which are available on the Council`s e-tendering system at: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/readingbc/aspx/Home (Project Reference No. RBC 00000237 ), and complete as instructed.

The Portal is free of charge - to register please follow the supplier registration guidance which is available on the Portal. Contractors wishing to be considered for this tendering opportunity must complete the tender documents and return them electronically via the Council`s e-tendering portal.

Interested parties must log onto the Council`s e-tendering portal at: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/readingbc, to express an interest and download the procurement documents. All communications regarding this procurement exercise will be conducted through the Council`s e-tendering portal including requests for clarifications or general enquiries. The procurement documents will be available for download up until the closing time and date for submissions, it is the organisation`s responsibility to ensure that they download the documents in ample time to ensure that they can be completed and returned electronically, along with supporting documents, prior to the closing time and date stipulated. Before completing the tender, potential providers/suppliers should ensure that the e-mail address that has been used to register their organisation will be checked regularly as the Council`s e-tendering system will generate automatic notifications to this e-mail address when there are updates, changes or messages sent relating to the project. Potential bidders should also check that their organisation`s details are correct and kept up to date.

Technical questions and assistance regarding the use and operation of the Portal should be addressed to the In-Tend Help Desk - e-mail: support@in-tend.co.uk, telephone number +44 8442728810.

Is a Recurrent Procurement Type? : No