Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2016-08-31
Buyer: North Bristol NHS Trust
Country: UK
Region: Bristol, City of
Contract type: Supplies
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 48000000 | 48100000 | 48180000 | 48311000 | 48311100
Estimated value: 25000000 GBP

Technical requirements: Bristol and Weston NHS Purchasing Consortium (‘the Consortium’), on behalf of North Bristol NHS Trust (‘the Trust’) and other NHS Trusts, competitively procured and awarded a Patient Administration System, Electronic Patient Record and Associated Services Contract (‘the Contract’) following a competitive dialogue process pursuant to OJEU Contract Notice No 2013/S 079-132815. The 10 year contract was awarded to CSC Computer Sciences Limited (‘CSC’), and was completed on 22.7.2014, with a total final contract value of 25 000 000 GBP. The Trust intends to vary a the Contract to include the purchase of EDM software (but not scanning) services.
The Consortium, on behalf of the Trust and other NHS Trusts, competitively procured and awarded a Patient Administration System, Electronic Patient Record and Associated Services Contract (‘the Contract’) pursuant to OJEU Contract Notice No 2013/S 079-132815. The 10-year contract was awarded to CSC Computer Sciences Limited (‘CSC’), and was completed on 22.7.2014, with a total final contract value of 25 000 000 GBP.
As well as the ‘Core Services’ in the Contract, the Contract provides for the Trust to purchase ‘Additional Services’, including System Modules (one of which is ‘Electronic Document Management’ (EDM)) and additional ‘Implementation and Consulting Services’ at additional cost. The Trust intends to vary the Contract to include the purchase of EDM software capable of storing, indexing and displaying existing paper records, with ongoing support and software maintenance services, to enable clinicians to continue accessing existing paper records.
The Consortium considers that such a variation to the Contract during its term is permitted without needing a new procurement procedure in accordance with Regulation 72(1)(a) (modification provided for in the initial procurement documents) and/or Regulation 72(1)(e) (modification not substantial) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 for the reasons set out in this notice.
The Consortium considers that the variation to the Contract described above is permitted without needing a new procurement procedure in accordance with Regulation 72(1)(a) (modification provided for in the initial procurement documents) and/or Regulation 72(1)(e) (modification not substantial) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 for the reasons set out above at section II.2.4) and below.
The purchase of Additional Services, including EDM software, together with support and maintenance services, was expressly provided for in the initial procurement documents in clear, precise and unequivocal review clauses. The charges for purchasing EDM software and services from CSC have been determined by reference to the indicative prices within the Contract, and the scope and nature of the modification is detailed in one of the Schedules to the Contract. The Key terms on which these Additional Services will be supplied have already been agreed. Pursuant to the Contract, CSC is not entitled to reject the Trust's request for the provision of Additional Services (provided that the implementation timescales are reasonable), and, in any event, CSC has agreed to provide the Additional Services.
Furthermore, the modification is not substantial. The modification does not render the Contract (or its scope) materially different in character to the 1 initially concluded, as the advertised initial contract and related procurement documents envisaged the provision of EDM software, albeit as an additional rather than core service. Therefore, the variation is unlikely to materially affect the bidders attracted to the original advertisement, would not have allowed for admission of other candidates or tenders, and does not change the economic balance in favour of the Contractor. The modification remains within the scope of the original OJEU notice and Contract in terms of the type of services expected to be delivered and although the variation will result in an increase in value for the contractor of approximately 1 792 489 GBP, (this is not a substantial increase in the context of a 25 000 000 GBP contract / this falls within the estimated value of up to 25 000 000 GBP). In fact, the Contract Award Notice specifically provides that the contract value estimated over the full term of the Contract may vary if additional options are added into the Contract during the term, when working towards a full electronic patient record.
Whilst section V.2.1) of this notice refers to a Contract Award Decision, the Trust is not in fact awarding a new contract, but is making a non-material amendment to an existing one.
The ‘total value of the contract’ figure in section V.2.4) relates to the total price of the Contract after the variation in relation to the provision of EDM software is entered into.


Award value: 25000000