Provision of IT Platform for Referral Management and Advice and Guidance to Somerset Integrated Care Board

NHS Somerset are seeking expressions of interest from organisations to provide an asynchronous and synchronous IT solution for the provision of Advice and Guidance between practitioners and clinicians for use by all within their respective Integrated Care System.

A robust and effective Advice and Guidance digital platform solution is central to the vision outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan of 'one click away' specialist advice and guidance for primary care.

The Commissioner requires the provision to support senior clinician advice and guidance for acute care pre-admission/pre referral communications between Primary care (including community and paramedic staff) and Secondary care for use across both Urgent and Planned Care pathways, and to enable uploading and sending documents and images from mobile devices/laptops to support patient outcome and ease of access to the health care providers.

The contract will be let for an initial period of 2 years, with optional extension of up to a further 2 years, to a maximum total length of 4 years. The value for the initial 1st year term is £252,000 and the maximum whole life (2 year) value is £504,000. All values provided are inclusive of any non-recoverable VAT.

This procurement is being carried out by NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit (SCW) on behalf of the Commissioners.

Additional information: Interested providers will be able to view this opportunity via the live opportunities list on the 'Health Family' e-procurement system, Atamis. Click on 'View our Live Opportunities' from the home page, available on the following link: https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome.

The services are subject to the full regime of current procurement legislation and as such this tender will be conducted in accordance with, and governed by, the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. This contract will therefore be awarded in accordance with the provisions applicable in Section 5 (sub-section 7) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

The contracting authorities intend to observe the provisions and 10 day standstill period described in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Unsuccessful Bidders and applicants will receive scores and reasons for the decision, including the characteristics and relative advantages of the winning bid and the reasons why the Bidder/applicant was unsuccessful. Deadlines for lodging appeals should be in accordance with the Regulations