Provision of Health Care Services to Vinney Green Secure Children's Home

NHS England South (South West) wishes to commission the delivery of Healthcare Services at Vinney Green Secure Children's Unit.

Vinney Green is a 24 bed Youth Justice Board unit meaning it accepts young people from the courts. They will occasionally take children on a welfare order or under PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence). PACE allows for a young person to remain in custody awaiting a court appearance and is therefore only in the unit a matter of hours.

Vinney Green is located in South Gloucestershire and is owned and run by the local authority. Education in the mainstay activity and health interventions need to work around this regime. As a secure home/school inspection falls to OFSTED rather than the CQC emphasising that the unit is not a healthcare environment.

The service being commissioned includes:

Dentistry is accessed through community appointments.

Optometry is subcontracted through the local authority but is likely to be brought into the new contract.

Speech and Language input is commissioned separately through Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

Services will be delivered in line with nationally mandated specifications:

1. Physical Health Care and Intervention
2. Substance Misuse
3. Emotional and mental Health within a Framework of Integrated Care (SECURE STAIRS)
4. Overarching Specification
5. Healthcare and Enabling specification that sets out the local authority management expectations

The service will also be compliant with the Healthcare Standards for Children in Secure Settings.

The maximum total contract value for the service will be £3,625,000.

The contract duration will be 5 years, due to commence on 1st April 2018

TUPE may apply.

Commissioners will not be liable for costs incurred by any interested party in participating in this process.

Interested parties who wish to take part in the procurement are invited to take part in an Invitation To Tender (ITT) process, based on the Open procedure and designed to identify the Most Economically Advantageous Tender and therefore determine the incoming provider.

All ITT responses must be returned by 12 noon on 16th October 2017, at the latest.

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

Additional information: Interested providers will be able to view the tender opportunity via the 'current tenders' list on the e-procurement system https://in-tendhost.co.uk/scwcsu/aspx/Home

In order to access the tender documentation you will need to 'express an interest' and register on the system. Bidders are required to respond to Selection & ITT questions directly within the system and attach any requested documents separately to the placeholders provided.

The services are healthcare services falling within Schedule 3 to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ("the Regulations") which are not subject to the full regime of the Regulations, but is instead governed by the "Light Touch Regime" contained within Chapter 3, Section 7 of the Regulations (Regulations 74 to 77).

The tendering process will be conducted in accordance with the requirements and flexibilities provided by Articles 74 to 76 of the Directive, and Regulations 74 to 76 of the Regulations. The Authority will run a transparent tender process, treating all Bidders equally. For the avoidance of doubt, the Authority will not be bound by the Regulations or the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union or any other regulations or legislation except for the specific parts or circumstances that apply to the procurement of these Services.

Neither the inclusion of a Bidder selection stage, nor the use of any language or terms found in the Directive or Regulations, nor the description of the procedure voluntarily adopted by the Authority ("Open", "Restricted", "Competitive Procedure with Negotiation", "Competitive Dialogue" or any other description), nor any other indication, shall be taken to mean that the Authority intends to hold itself bound by the Directive or Regulations, save by the provisions applicable to services coming within the scope of Annex XIV of the Directive / Schedule 3 of the Regulations.

The Contracting Authority intends to voluntarily observe the award decision notices provisions and 10 day standstill period described in Regulation 86 of the Regulations. Unsuccessful Bidders will receive scores and reasons for the decision, including the characteristics and relative advantages of the winning bid and the reasons why the Bidder/application was unsuccessful. Deadline for lodging of appeals should be in accordance with Regulation 87 and Regulation 91 of the Regulations.