Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2019-03-19
Buyer: NHS Ipswich and East Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 85100000: Health services | 85111800
Estimated value: 114035103 GBP
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: This is a voluntary ex-ante transparency notice and is intended to provide notice of the CCGs' intention to award a contract for the provision of Primary Care Pathology Services for NHS Ipswich and East Suffolk CCG, West Suffolk CCG and North East Essex CCG.
Area covered by NHS Ipswich and East Suffolk CCG (IESCCG), NHS West Suffolk CCG (WSCCG) and NHS North East Essex CCG (NEECCG)
This is a voluntary ex-ante transparency notice and is intended to provide notice of the intention of NHS Ipswich and East Suffolk CCG, NHS West Suffolk CCG and NHS North East Essex CCG known as the “CCGs” to award a 5 year contract with an option to extend to 2 years for the provision of Primary Care Pathology Services, across the 3 localities.
A PIN notice (2018/S 098-223651) was published setting out the CCGs' intention to continue working with the local trusts.
The service will deliver 3 key services to support and enable the care provided by GP Practices to their patients:
(a) consultant-led Integrated blood sciences service for clinical biochemistry, haematology, immunology;
The service will provide the Community Pathology Services that are accessible to GP Practices every weekday, at a minimum, from 08:00 to 20:00 with appropriate on-call access to haematology, clinical biochemistry, immunology and microbiology (including virology and mycology) specialist expertise to:
The integrated blood science service will include the provision of a comprehensive haematology, clinical biochemistry and immunology service which includes microscopy, blood coagulation, specialist investigations and the review of abnormal test results including blood films and test results.
The CCGs' are thus mitigating any risk of destabilising pathology services in the region by awarding to the incumbent provider who will continue to provide a one stop shop for GP Practices, in-patients, hospices and the community alongside their acute services.
This is a voluntary ex-ante transparency notice and is intended to provide notice of the intention of NHS Ipswich and East Suffolk CCG, NHS West Suffolk CCG and NHS North East Essex CCG known as the "CCGs" to award a 5 year contract with an option to extend for a further 2 years for the provision of Primary Care Pathology Services, across the 3 localities.
This service is a healthcare service within the meaning and scope of the National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No. 2) Regulations 2013 and as such is governed by these regulations and the “light touch” regime under the Public Contract Regulations 2015
The CCGs are of the firm view that it is necessary to avoid the risk of destabilising the pathology services in the region by awarding to the incumbent provider who will continue to provide a one stop shop for GP Practices, in-patients, Hospices and the community in conjunction with acute pathology services. The CCGs are also of the view that awarding the contract will enable them to mitigate the identified risks of potentially transferring the service outside of the STP footprint, which would be inconsistent with STP priorities and strategies. It would also nullify the need to identify approx. 4 000 000 GBP in exit costs. It would also protect the acute pathology services, and prevent severe disruption in primary care which could cause quality and safety risk due to having to change processes and allows the CCGs and the provider to focus on local collaboration.


Winner: East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust
Award value: 114035103