Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2018-04-10
Buyer: Drammen Kommune
Country: NO
Contract type: Supplies
Procedure: Contract award without prior publication
CPV classification: 48814000: Medical information systems
Estimated value: 1960000 NOK

Technical requirements: A procurement was announced in January 2017 for an electronic medicine management system for 9 of 10 institutions in the health and care districts in Drammen municipality. Drammen Helsehus (Helsehuset) was the only institution that was not included in the procurement. This was because Helsehuset already had, at that point in time, procured a system for medicine management. It takes time to implement and develop good routines for using such systems and this work was still ongoing when the competition for the nine nursing homes was announced in January 2017. Vingmed AS won the competition to deliver to these nursing homes, so Drammen municipality then had two suppliers of electronic medicine management systems. One at Helsehuset and another one in the 9 other institutions.
After the interaction reform, the patients' health at Helsehuset has become increasingly worse. This has been particularly noticeable in the last 2 years. Patients with bad health, more patients and shorter stays mean that there are constant changes in medicine management. Helsehuset currently has two medicine rooms, but has a need for a further three in order to increase the capacity, have better work flow and increase patient safety. So that there is the same system over all of Helsehuset and a complete system in the municipality as a whole, Drammen municipality intends to procure five installations for electronic medicine management for Helsehuset from Vingmed AS.
The future medicine management system was described as such in the tender documentation from January 2017.
“The medicine management chain starts when a medicine is prescribed, via delivery from a chemist /wholesaler to the preparation and distribution of the medicine. ICT systems are used in the electronic medicine management system to carry out and document the various stages in the medicine management chain in order to ensure that the correct patient gets the correct medicine, in the correct dose, at the correct time in the correct way.”
The aim of the procurement was to: “Increase the quality and patient safety via electronic systems in the medicine management chain...” Drammen municipality is now working in cooperation with its suppliers to reach the target of a closed medicine loop.
A closed medicine loop shall be developed, where the systems for medicine management in the municipality's institutions communicate electronically with each other, with the patient journal system and with pharmacies, in accordance with a model from the hospital pharmacies. This has currently not been developed in the municipal health service.
Sykehusapotek defines a closed medicine loop as: “An electronically supported process for medicine management, where all information from prescribing to administration is transferred electronically and seamlessly between different systems. All documentation during the process will be electronic and traceable. The closed medicine loop follows each individual medicine”. A closed medicine loop will give uniform, efficient and secure medicine management. The medicine management system that Helsehuset currently has cannot communicate with the system for medicine management at the other nine institutions.
If the contracting authority shall hold a competition for the procurement of new systems for Helsehuset, we could potentially end up with 3 different suppliers of electronic medicine management systems for Helsehuset and in the municipality. The development of integrations to and from the EPJ patient journal system and to pharmacies would then have to be done with potentially 3 suppliers. This would give different user interface as there would be different software and different support internally and externally. As a result of this, health and ICT personnel would then have to acquire competence in 2 /3 systems, which would all have the same function. This would give considerable extra costs in the operational phase for licences, service and maintenance, training, etc. The development and operation of these systems is therefore deemed to have disproportionately large costs and use of resources for the contracting authority.
The additional delivery from VingMed AS will replace the current electronic medicine management system at Helsehuset and, in addition, increase capacity by a further three medicine rooms. The additional delivery is necessary as, by having the same supplier, all the medicine systems at Helsehuset would be compatible and the development and operation will only be directed at one supplier. This will ensure that the contracting authority achieves the aim in the main delivery of increased quality and patient safety.
The original contract value is NOK 9 650 000 and the additional procurement is NOK 1 960 000. The additional procurement is therefore under 50 % of the original contract value.
Drammen municipality is of the opinion that the terms in the regulations are met for an additional delivery from Vingmed AS.
Drammen municipality intends to enter into a contract with Vingmed AS for the delivery of five installations for electronic medicine management for Drammen Helsehus. The contract will be signed after the 10 day deadline from when the intention notice is published in TED has expired.
Drammen municipality shall develop a closed medicine loop where the systems for medicine management in the municipality's institutions communicate electronically with each other, with the patient journal system and with pharmacies, in accordance with a model from the hospital pharmacies. This has currently not been developed in the municipal health service.
A closed medicine loop will give uniform, efficient and secure medicine management. The system for medicine management that Helsehuset currently has cannot “communicate” with the system for medicine management at the other 9 institutions.
If the contracting authority shall hold a competition for the procurement of new systems for Helsehuset, we could potentially end up with three different suppliers of electronic medicine management systems for Helsehuset and in the municipality. The development of integrations to and from the EPJ patient journal system (Gerica) and to the pharmacies for the closed medicine loop would then have to be done together with potentially three suppliers. This would give different user interface as there would be different software and different support internally and externally.


Winner: Vingmed AS
Award value: 1960000