NHS England South (South East) - Primary Medical Services and Primary Care Plus Services to the homeless and vulnerably housed in Brighton & Hove

NHS England South (South East) and Brighton and Hove City CCG seek to commission a provider to deliver both primary medical services and primary care plus services to the homeless and vulnerably housed in Brighton & Hove.

The contract is due to commence on 1st February 2017 and will run for 3 years and two months, with the option to mutually agree a further two year extension. The contract will have a total maximum value of £3,444,048, including extension options.

Brighton and Hove have a high level of homelessness and numbers are increasing. Those who find themselves homeless are often extremely vulnerable with complex health and care needs. They may be excluded from services or have difficulty engaging with mainstream services, relying instead on emergency or urgent care services. Services are often set up to respond to an individual need rather than provide holistic care.

Improving health outcomes for the homeless population is a priority and a key element of the Brighton and Hove Better Care Plan. Based on evidence from elsewhere and findings from our homeless health audit, a proposal has been developed for an integrated and flexible model of care based on a hub and spoke. The aim is that the new model of care will improve access to health care and health outcomes, resulting in a reduced reliance on emergency and unplanned care. Another key element is to support patients to have more control over their care by empowering them to live independently.

The provider will deliver: 1) Primary Medical Services and 2) Primary Care Plus – including strengthened primary care services, hub co-ordination and management, and an engagement model with peer support.

It is a requirement that the provider take responsibility for BOTH the Primary Medical Services AND the Primary Care Plus elements. Other elements of the model are out of scope of this procurement. Further information on requirements can be found in the service specification.

There has been a general practice aimed specifically at homeless people for a number of years in the city which has had a growing registered population (currently 1,391 registered on 1 April 2016 (assumed weighted list size is 1114).

The service will be provided from the current premises in Morley Street in Brighton city centre (although there may be flexibility on this over the course of the contract).

A prior information/early engagement notice was published in relation to this procurement in May 2016, seeking expressions of interest. Please note that this previous notice was an information gathering exercise rather than a call for competition in its own right. Although those who responded to that notice will be advised that this contract notice has been published, there will be no process exemptions or preferential treatment afforded to any parties who expressed an interest at that stage.

Additional details/description is continued in Additional Text below.

Additional information: Interested parties who wish to take part in the procurement are invited to take part in an Invitation To Negotiate (ITN) process, similar to the Open procedure but including feedback/negotiation meetings based on draft bids, and designed to ultimately identify the Most Economically Advantageous Tender and therefore determine the incoming provider.

The procurement will be conducted via the In-Tend portal, and can be accessed via either:

- the 'current tenders' list on https://in-tendhost.co.uk/scwcsu/aspx/Home - following this direct link: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/scwcsu/aspx/ProjectManage/235

In order to access the tender documentation, you will need to 'express an interest' and register on the system for full access. Bidders are required to respond to questions directly within In-Tend and attach any requested documents separately to the placeholders provided.

All ITT Stage 1 (Draft Bid) responses must be returned by 12 Noon on 5th August 2016, at the latest.

The Services are healthcare services within the meaning and scope of Annex XIV of Directive 2014/24/EU (the Directive) and Schedule 3 to the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (the Regulations). The tendering process will be conducted in accordance with the requirements and flexibilities provided by Articles 74 to 76 of the Directive, and Regulations 74 to 76 of the Regulations. The Authority will run a transparent tender process, treating all bidders equally. For the avoidance of doubt, the Authority will not be bound by the Regulations or the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union or any other regulations or legislation except for the specific parts or circumstances that apply to the procurement of these Services.

Neither the inclusion of a bidder selection stage, nor the use of any language or terms found in the Directive or Regulations, nor the description of the procedure voluntarily adopted by the Authority (Open, Restricted, Competitive Procedure with Negotiation, Competitive Dialogue or any other description), nor any other indication, shall be taken to mean that the Authority intends to hold itself bound by the Directive or Regulations, save by the provisions applicable to services coming within the scope of Annex XIV of the Directive / Schedule 3 of the Regulations.