NHS England & NHS Improvement (South West) - RFQ - Provision of Oral Health Needs Assessment for the South West

THIS NOTICE IS BEING PLACED ON BEHALF OF NHS ENGLAND AND IMPROVEMENT (NHSE/I).

NHSE/I South West Region is seeking to award a contract for an organisation to deliver an Oral Health Needs Assessment (OHNA) for the South West of England by 30th September 2020 at the latest.

Dental commissioning is a key priority area for NHSE/I's direct commissioning function, and the intention is to commission an OHNA to commence as soon as possible and for completion within six months of commencement. The OHNA is key in terms of informing commissioning strategy and transformation for dental services in the South West.

The OHNA will provide a review of oral health needs and dental services. It is intended that the results of the OHNA will inform the planning and implementation of appropriate services, and oral health improvement strategies targeted at those at specific risk, or in underserved population subgroups.

The OHNA will cover Devon; Cornwall; Somerset; Dorset; Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire; Gloucestershire; Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset. It will also include specifically the oral health needs of the prison population in the South West.

Through identifying and gathering sources of existing and relevant data and information which support the needs assessment process, the OHNA will:

• Research and describe the oral health characteristics of the population and identify their needs including for populations at risk of poor oral health
• Measure the capacity of existing service provision to meet need, and identify any areas where additional capacity or provision is required in terms of supporting the oral health needs of the population
• Identify aspects of service provision where further investigation/analysis may be needed

The output from the OHNA would be a reference document reporting on the objectives above. It is expected that such an Oral Needs Assessment will take a maximum of six months to complete on the basis of approximately 2 -3 days per week working, however ideally would be undertaken on the basis of 5 days per week for earlier completion

References: https://tinyurl.com/s2ukba9 and https://tinyurl.com/sm8zdxl

The outcome of this competitive process will be to identify a preferred bidder with whom NHSE/I will enter a project definition stage to jointly develop a detailed specification, report structure and costings.

The values mention in this notice are indicative only with the value of any resulting contract being agreed with the preferred bidder following the project definition stage.

Additional information: Interested providers will be able to view this notice via the 'current tenders' list on the e-procurement system In-Tend, available on the following link: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/scwcsu/aspx/Home

In order to submit a bid, you will need to be registered on the e-procurement system and 'express an interest', and then complete a response as specified within the procurement documents.

On registration, please include at least two contacts to allow for access to the system in times of absence.