Somerset Integrated Care System - Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services, Discharge, Qualified Crew Services (including inter-trust Transfer service) and Mental Health and Secure

Three partners of the Somerset Integrated Care System, Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group, Somerset Foundation Trust and Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust are seeking the provision of Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services in the following two categories which will be procured as two separate Lots within a single process.

Lot 1 -Patient Discharge, (inter-hospital) Transfers and Qualified Crew (DTQ)

Lot 2 - Mental Health & Secure (MH&S)

The County of Somerset covers a large geographical area. It has a dispersed, mainly rural population of approximately 564,000 people, with only one in four of its residents living in one of its three largest towns; Taunton; Yeovil; and Bridgwater.

Somerset has two Acute Trusts within its borders (Somerset NHS Foundation Trust and Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust) as well as 12 community hospitals (run by Somerset Foundation Trust), 64 GP practices a hospice and several care homes. The Somerset population also relies on access to services in a few neighbouring out of county trusts. These journeys, referred to as Zone B journeys, are generally for services which are more specialist in nature.

Full details for each of the Lots including specification, activity, scope and requirements can be found within the procurement documentation. For the avoidance of doubt this procurement does not cover car services and/or pre-planned activity.

Bidders should be aware that Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group has appointed Somerset NHS Foundation Trust as the Lead Provider Trust with the responsibility of managing these non-emergency patient transport services. The successful provider will contract directly with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust via the NHS Standard Contract - subcontracted.

The duration of the agreement will be for 60 months, with an option to extend up to a further 24 months at the discretion of the Commissioner.

The contract value per annum for each lot is:

• Lot 1 DTQ - £1,851,000 giving a contract value of £9,255,000 for the initial 60-month period and £12,957,000 if the full extension period of 24 months is adopted.

• Lot 2 MH&S - £376,000 giving a contract value of £1,880,000 for the initial 60-month period and £2,632,000 if the full extension period of 24 months is adopted.

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 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.

The services are deemed to be subject to the full regime of current UK 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 authority will 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.