Public procurement notice: Prior Information Notice Without Call For Competition
Published: 2020-01-27
Buyer: United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI)
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
CPV classification: 85100000: Health services | 85140000: Miscellaneous health services
Estimated value: 300000 GBP

Technical requirements: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) will shortly be embarking on an Open OJEU procurement to establish a contract for the provision of occupational health services. UKRI employees are based at various sites across the UK. To enable UKRI to fulfil their obligations to employees, professional occupational health advisors are engaged to assist with the prevention of occupational ill health, rehabilitation of employees and health promotion. To enable the UKRI Pension Schemes to administer the application for early retirement on ill health grounds occupational health advisors are engaged as Scheme Medical Advisors to independently assess claims for ill health retirement which enables the scheme manager and trustees to make robust decisions.
UKRI collectively have approximately 2 672 staff. Whilst the overall headcount is not envisaged to vary significantly, the distribution between Units may change.
The provider will be responsible for providing occupational health services for the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) sites listed below.
Employees are predominantly office based with some degree of external travel within the UK and abroad. In addition to the Polaris House, Swindon campus, Medical Research Council (MRC) has staff located at MRC Harwell Institute which comprises the following units: Mammalian Genetics Unit (MGU), Mary Lyon Centre (MLC) and Centre for Macaques (CFM). In addition, occupational health provision will be for the employees with MRC at the Research Complex at Harwell (RCAH). MRC Harwell and RCAH are located at Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire and CFM is based at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) site in Porton Down, located in Salisbury, Wiltshire. Employees located at CFM currently attend the Harwell campus for Occupational Health appointments. Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) has staff located in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire. UKRI also has staff located at Victoria Embankment, London whilst Innovate UK staff are predominately field based across the UK and are also to be included in this requirement. Field based staff will attend the nearest UKRI site and they must also have the option for telephone consultations. Research England has staff located in Bristol.
To enable UKRI to fulfil their obligations to employees, professional occupational health advisors are engaged to assist with the prevention of occupational ill health, rehabilitation of employees and health promotion. To enable the UKRI Pension Schemes to administer the application for early retirement on ill health grounds occupational health advisors are engaged as scheme medical advisors in making assessments.
The above list is only indicative and a full list of roles will be shared as part of the tender package once this has been finalised.
Ahead of commencing this procurement we would like to raise awareness of this project by way of an industry day where we will introduce our plans for this upcoming requirement. Our hope is that in engaging with industry experts, that we ensure that this requirement is well placed when it hits the market in the near future.
UKRI now seek to gauge the market response to UKRI's requirements so that we can deliver improvements and benefits through new contracted provision.
This prior information notice is being issued in order to undertake a market consultation exercise with regards to the current view of requirements detailed above to take place on 10.2.2020. If you believe that this will be of interest to you and your organisation, please register your interest by sending an email to the following address: professionalservices@uksbs.co.uk
By registering and attending you will be engaging in non-competitive dialogue which will enable UKRI to develop and assess the market's appetite, concerns and views on formulation of its requirements.
Please register by 5 p.m. on 6.2.2020 at the latest including reference CS19192 within your email title.
The estimated value of the project excluding VAT is 300 000 GBP for the initial 3-year period. We anticipate the new provision being a 3-year (guarantee funding) plus 1 + 1 agreement.
The supplier engagement day will be held at UKRI, Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon SN2 1FF. Once you have registered your interest we will confirm the actual time and further details of the engagement day. UKRI may consider information and responses received as part of the preliminary market consultation to help inform UKRI options and further decision making in relation to the planning and conduct of the proposed procurement. For the avoidance of doubt, this notice is not a call for competition, a contract notice will be issued as a call for competition. Not registering an interest shall not prevent any supplier participating in a potential future procurement, nor is it intended that any information supplied as part of preliminary market consultation will be at each supplier's own cost.
The format of the supplier day will be confirmed in advance and an agenda of the day will be provided.
Operating across the whole of the UK and with a combined budget of more than 6 000 000 000 GBP, UK Research and Innovation represents the largest reform of the research and innovation funding landscape in the last 50 years. As an independent non-departmental body UK Research and Innovation brings together the 7 Research Councils (AHRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC, MRC, NERC, STFC) plus Innovate UK and a new organisation, Research England.


Award value: 300000