Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2020-02-11
Buyer: NHS England
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Open procedure
CPV classification: 79512000 | 85100000: Health services
Submission deadline: 2020-03-06
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: NHS England/Improvement (NHSE/I) is seeking to procure a national information and advice service for NHS Continuing Healthcare for a 2-year period from April 2020.
NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) is a package of care for adults aged 18 or over, who may need ongoing care and support because of complicated, intense or unpredictable healthcare needs resulting from a disability, accident or illness. The care that is paid entirely by the NHS is called NHS Continuing Healthcare. The national framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care sets out the principles and processes for assessment, determining whether individuals with complex needs are the responsibility of the NHS (free at the point of delivery) or social care (means tested). The national framework is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-framework-for-nhs-continuing-healthcare-and-nhs-funded-nursing-care
1) NHS England/Improvement (NHSE/I) is seeking to procure a national information and advice service for NHS Continuing Healthcare for a 2-year period from 1.4.2020;
2) NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) is a package of care for adults aged 18 or over, who may need ongoing care and support because of complicated, intense or unpredictable healthcare needs resulting from a disability, accident or illness. The care that is paid entirely by the NHS is called NHS Continuing Healthcare. The national framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-funded nursing care sets out the principles and processes for assessment, determining whether individuals with complex needs are the responsibility of the NHS (free at the point of delivery) or social care (means tested). The national framework is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-framework-for-nhs-continuing-healthcare-and-nhs-funded-nursing-care
3) Individuals are assessed for eligibility for NHS CHC according to the detailed process set out in the national framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare, which is underpinned by the national health service commissioning board and Clinical Commissioning Groups (Responsibilities and Standing Rules) Regulations 2012. It is the statutory responsibility of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) to assess and fund NHS CHC packages of care;
4) NHS England has the statutory duty to ensure that CCGs are compliant with the national framework for NHS CHC and co-ordinate the independent review function which allows individuals and their families to request a review of an eligibility decision with regards to NHS CHC;
5) The NHS CHC assessment of whether an individual is the responsibility of the NHS or social care often occurs at a time of great stress for individuals and their families. It is therefore crucial, that individuals and their families understand the complexities of NHS CHC and, in particular, that long term care can be the responsibility of the NHS and/or social care – 1 service that is free at the point of delivery and the latter, means tested which can have significant financial consequences for the individual.
6) To support this, NHSE/I has funded a free national information and advice service since December 2017, to provide independent and high-quality specialist advice to support individuals, their families and representatives in England, who are going through the NHS CHC process. The service focuses on explaining why there is an assessment process, what this assessment process is and if eligible for NHS CHC, what this means in terms of commissioning a care package.
Interested suppliers must be accredited to the ISO 27001 for information security management or have achieved Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation.
The authority will incorporate a standstill period at the point that information about the actual award of the contract is communicated to tenderers.
That notification will provide information on the award decision. The standstill period, which will be for a minimum of 10 calendar days, provides time for unsuccessful tenderers to challenge the award decision before the contract is entered into. The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended) provide remedies under statute for aggrieved parties.