Public procurement notice: Contract Award Notice
Published: 2022-01-25
Buyer: Central Denmark Region
Country: DK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Competitive procedure with negotiation
CPV classification: 60400000: Air transport services | 60424120 | 85141000: Services provided by medical personnel
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: The tender will include four helicopters, pilots and HEMS crew members for the operation of helicopter emergency medical services in Denmark. The contracting authorities will provide the doctors. The detailed terms of the operation of the services appear from draft ‘Contract on the operation of helicopter emergency medical services’, which is included as part of the tender documents. The draft contract is subject to negotiation.
The national Danish HEMS service was established by the five regions of Denmark and provides nationwide coverage using four EC-135 helicopters. The helicopters are staffed with a pilot, a HEMS Crew Member (HCM) and a doctor. The service is primarily dispatched to patients with acute life-threatening illnesses or traumatic injury but is also used for inter-hospital patient transfers in minor scale. The HEMS service is a 24/7 single pilot operation with a HEMS Crew Member.
The four helicopters complete around 4.230 operations/3.341 flight hours a year. The crew utilises NVIS in order to land close to the accident scene at night-time and they use point in space procedures when landing at hospitals in difficult weather-conditions. Roughly 20 percent of the operations are executed using NVIS and around 10 percent include the use of the onboard instruments (IFR).
The four helicopters that constitute the HEMS-service are situated in Saltum on landside, Billund Airport, Ringsted Airfield and Skive on landside. On each location the regions have established a base with accommodation facilities for the crew and a hanger for the helicopter which allows for minor maintenance facilities. The bases are owned by the regions and are made available for the provider free of charge. The bases are designed to ensure rapid response to emergency calls, and therefore — during daytime — the crew can be airborne 4½ minutes after the sound of the alarm.
The contracting authorities have provided basis for submission of parallel bids. Consequently, the tenderers must submit tenders for four small helicopters as well as a parallel tender for two larger helicopters and two small helicopters. In addition, the tenderers must submit tenders for a contract of indefinite duration as well as a fixed-term contract for 10 years.
The contracting authorities have an option of extending the number of emergency medical helicopters by two helicopters, from four emergency medical helicopters to six emergency medical helicopters.
The contracting authorities must exercise the option in writing at a notice of no less than 2 years, unless otherwise agreed.
The tender comprise parallel solutions for a contract of indefinite duration including a 10-year period of non-terminability and a fixed-term 10-year contract, respectively. Accordingly, the term of the contract, cf. clause II.2.7) must be read against this background. In addition, the estimated total value stated is expressive of the expected value over a contract term of 10 years.
The reason for the cancellation is that, by way of the interlocutory decision of 12 January 2022 and based on the grounds presented by the Complaints Board for Public Procurement, the Complaints Board for Public Procurement assessed that the contract documents cannot form the basis of a lawful award decision.
Complaints about the tender procedure must be submitted to the Complaints Board for Public Procurement according to s. 7 of Act No 593 of 2 June 2016 on the Complaints Board for Public Procurement. Complaints about not obtaining pre-qualification must be received by the Complaints Board no later than 20 calendar days after the day on which the contracting authority has announced who has obtained pre-qualification. A complaints fee of DKK 20 000 must be paid at the same time. Other complaints must be received by the Complaints Board for Public Procurement no later than 45 days after the day on which the contracting authority has published an announcement in the Official Journal of the European Union stating that the contracting authority has entered into a contract. Concurrently with the submission of a complaint to the Complaints Board at the latest, the claimant must notify the contracting authority about the submission of the complaint to the Complaints Board and about whether the complaint has been submitted during the standstill period. Where the complaint has not been submitted during the standstill period, the claimant must also indicate whether a stay of execution is requested on the complaint. Furthermore, reference is made to the website of the Complaints Board for Public Procurement http://klfu.dk