NHS England - Provision of School Aged Immunisation Services for the Thames Valley, Kent and Medway, and Sussex

The NHS School Aged Immunisation (SAI) programmes cover vaccinations to all children and young people of school age, whether they attend state school, independent school, complex needs schools or alternative settings. Children and young people that are educated at home can attend community clinics or their local school to receive the vaccines.

NHS England Public Health Commissioning Teams are responsible for the commissioning of local SAI services under the Section 7a mandate in line with the national programme requirements and a national service specification.

NHS England South East is recommissioning the SAI Programme across the population of Thames Valley, Kent and Medway, and Sussex. The current contracts with the incumbent providers end on the 31 July 2024, and the new contracts will commence on 1 August 2024, with a 5 year initial term and the option to extend for up to 2 further years.

The procurement is split into 3 lots, as detailed below:

The combined annual contract value across all lots is currently estimated to be in the region of £ 7,799,827, based on 2023/24 contract values and assuming 95% uptake across adolescent immunisation programmes and 60% for the influenza immunisation for the school years of Reception through to Year 6. This value also includes a sum to support action to address variation and inequalities.

Immunisation is one of the most successful and cost-effective health protection interventions. High immunisation rates are key to preventing the spread of infectious disease, complications and possible early death among individuals and to protecting the population's health.

Vaccinations are provided, on behalf of the NHS, in line with the National Childhood Immunisation Programme which aims to prevent school aged children from developing vaccine preventable childhood diseases that are associated with significant mortality and morbidity.

The scope for each lot may be extended in future to include additional programmes as advised/recommended by the Joint Committee of Vaccinations and Immunisations and/or at the request of the Commissioner.

Where the service specification is updated during the life of the contract, School Aged Immunisation services must maintain compliance with the service specification. As such, the Commissioner reserves the right to vary contracts to incorporate any future programme changes, subject to negotiation with the provider/s.

The aim and objectives of the service can be found later in the notice.

The provider will work with the commissioner to implement the recommendations of the national immunisation strategy (publication imminent) which is expected to include continuing to build innovative and integrated services, linking with wider models of vaccination delivery at system level.

This procurement is being carried out by NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit (SCW) on behalf of the Commissioners. Interested providers will be able to view this opportunity on Atamis (https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome) searching for the project title 'NHS England - Provision of School Aged Immunisation Services for the Thames Valley, Kent and Medway, and Sussex'