Market Briefing Event: Orthodontic Services in Oxford, Thame, Eastleigh and Dover for NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE/I) South East

This notice is placed in order to facilitate early engagement with potential providers, and relates only to a pre-procurement market briefing.

NHSE/I South East (the Commissioner) are seeking to recommission Level 2 and 3a NHS Orthodontic Services in the Oxford, Thame, Eastleigh and Dover areas, and will be undertaking a procurement process to award new contracts.

Prospective bidders are invited to a pre-procurement market briefing event held virtually on 27th April 2022, 17.30 - 19.30.

The event has been timed to avoid a clash with clinical sessions as much as possible.

Orthodontics is the dental specialty concerned with facial growth, development of the dentition and occlusion, and the assessment, diagnosis, interception and treatment of malocclusions and facial irregularities.

The overall aim of the service is to provide equitable, accessible, high quality and cost effective specialist orthodontic services, in line with the National Guide for Commissioning Orthodontics, 2015 and NHS Personal Dental Services (PDS) Agreements Regulations 2005.

Orthodontics is mainly provided for children and adolescents who meet the agreed criteria for NHS treatment and for adults where there is clinical justification and where prior approval has been agreed with the commissioner.

The service includes: • Assessment and treatment delivered according to each patient's clinical needs, including interceptive treatment and in hours urgent care • Treatment includes examination, taking of radiographs, diagnosis, preventative care, advice, planning of orthodontic treatment, supply and repair of orthodontic appliances including retainers for a period of 12 months following the completion of active orthodontic treatment • Appropriate referral to other healthcare providers for mandatory or advanced mandatory services or any other appropriate and necessary healthcare • Advice to the patient and other clinicians where appropriate

The contracts are limited to orthodontic treatment within complexity Level 2 and 3a and excludes all mandatory services and the following additional services: • Sedation services • Domiciliary services • Minor oral surgery • Dental public health services • Orthodontic complexity level 1 and 3b cases

The procurement is anticipated to commence from May 2022, inviting tenders to deliver services for specific lotted areas, with contract commencement anticipated on 1st April 2023. NHSE/I anticipates contracting for services under a PDS agreement.

To allow potential providers to reflect on the proposed services, early indicative information has been provided as part of this notice, as well as a market sounding questionnaire for potential providers to respond to, prior to the briefing event.

At the briefing, we will share further detail of the commissioner's objectives for the services. We will also provide details of the e-procurement system (being used to procure these services) and how the procurement process will operate.

Additional information: To access the information suite and express an interest in attending the market briefing event, interested providers should follow the link to the e-procurement system, In-Tend and complete the 'Market Sounding Questionnaire & Market Briefing Event Registration' form available within the system. Please note that you will first need to be registered on the system and select the option to 'express an interest' to access the project space. On registration, please include at least 2 contacts to allow for access to the system in times of absence.

https://in-tendhost.co.uk/scwcsu/aspx/ProjectManage/1586

In order to attend the market briefing event, please ensure that you submit your completed questionnaire by no later than 12 noon on 22nd April 2022. Details on how to access the briefing will be provided to all responses received prior to this closing date.

The briefing event is open to all providers who may want to deliver NHS orthodontic services in the future. In order to establish fair representation, availability for this event is limited to a maximum of two individuals per organisation.

Please note that you must return the Market Sounding Questionnaire & Market Briefing Event Registration form in order to attend the event. Questionnaires should be submitted using the In-Tend correspondence function, under the project 'Market Briefing Event: Orthodontic Services in Oxford, Thame, Eastleigh and Dover for NHS England and NHS Improvement South East'.

Providers are reminded that the information documents provided in In-Tend are indicative draft versions only and subject to change. Providers should not rely upon these documents when submitting any future bids, instead referring to the tender documentation released with the relevant tender opportunity.

This process is being carried out by NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit (SCW) on behalf of the Commissioners.

This notice is an information gathering exercise rather than a call for competition in its own right, and therefore publication or response does not commit NHSE/I or respondents to a future procurement, nor provide any process exemptions or preferential treatment to any parties expressing an interest. Commissioners are looking to establish what interest there might be in providing such a service from suitably qualified, capable and competent organisations.

NHSE/I will not be liable for costs incurred by any interested party in participating in this exercise. Interested parties should note that a response to this notice does not guarantee an automatic invitation to any subsequent formal procurement, which the commissioners will consider in due course.

The services are healthcare services falling within Schedule 3 to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ("the Regulations") which are not subject to the full regime of the Regulations, but is instead governed by the "Light Touch Regime" contained within Chapter 3, Section 7 of the Regulations (Regulations 74 to 77).