Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2019-07-15
Buyer: West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Restricted procedure
CPV classification: 85100000: Health services
Estimated value: 76000000 GBP
Submission deadline: 2019-08-01

Technical requirements: Provision of a new Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) service to be co-located with the Emergency Department of the Watford General Hospital. The service is to be delivered through a sub-contracted partner to the Trust, to bring primary care clinical capacity with a specialist focus on streaming and managing patients with minor illness or injuries normally presenting at the emergency department, as well as referrals from 111. The contract has potential to expand in scope to include:
— activity growth exceeding the base case assumptions, including both annual growth and percentage of total activity treated within the UTC,
— sub-contracting the delivery of other centres, specifically Hemel Urgent Treatment Centre and St Albans Minor Injuries Unit/Urgent Treatment Centre.
Recognising that the services being procured fall within scope of Schedule 3 of the EU Procurement Directives, this procurement is being run as a bespoke competitive procurement involving a number of steps fully described within the procurement documents. Early submission of the qualification questionnaires and supporting financial assessment templates are required, prior to submission of all other bid response documents. Full details provided within the Procurement Documents.
The successfully appointed provider is to be clinically responsible for the service, including having responsibility for registration with the regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and also for clinical governance. For this reason very specific qualifying criteria apply to bidders, ensuring specific capable experience in the provision of integrated urgent treatment centre services and experience and capability in successfully recruiting and retaining a GP workforce. Bidders will need to demonstrate achievement of sufficient CQC ratings and achievement of minimum performance against national A&E 4-hour standard in the delivery of UTC services. Full details described within the qualification questionnaire.
The initial contract term is for 4 years and 3 months, from April 2020 until June 2024, but having rights reserved to terminate a year earlier. The contract may be extended for up to a total of 8 years and 3 months until June 2028.
Core contract value is circa 2 000 000 GBP per year, worth 8 700 000 GBP for initial duration of 4-year and 3 months. If extended for a total of 8 years and 3 months the value for this core service could be 16 300 000 GBP. If the scope of service is expanded to include provision at Hemel UTC and St Albans MIU/UTC, the potential 8-year 3 month contract value could reach 76 000 000 GBP overall.
Price is not the only award criterion and all criteria are stated in the procurement documents, incl the need for bidders to demonstrate specific capable experience in the provision of UTC Services and experience and capability in successfully recruiting/retaining a GP workforce. Bidders will need to demonstrate achievement of sufficient CQC ratings and achievement of minimum performance against national A&E 4-hour standard in the delivery of UTC services. Details in qualification questionnaire.
Procurement documents (including service specification, bidder instructions, contract terms and conditions, etc.) available at https://nhssbs.eu-supply.com – once registered FREE of charge, search for Tender Reference 36287 (Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) Services in Watford General Hospital).


Award value: 76000000