NHSE539 Clinical Referral Management Service - Request for Information

North of England Commissioning Support (NECS) is working for and on behalf of NHS England & NHS Improvement North East and Yorkshire (the Contracting Authority), who are conducting a Request for Information (RFI) exercise in order to gain a better understanding of the capacity and appetite of the market to deliver a Clinical Referral Management Service (CRMS).

The aim of the CRMS is to clinically manage the allocation of referrals initially for Oral Surgery, Paediatric, Orthodontics and Special Care services.

The Contracting Authority reserves the right to request expansion of this service in the future and accepts that any future expansion would be subject to negotiation, however, the successful CRMS provider must be able to demonstrate that their systems and processes are capable of expansion, e.g. to manage referrals for additional specialties.

It is important to note that this PIN/RFI is not a call for competition and as such potential providers will need to express an interest in any future tender opportunity once a contract notice is published on Find a Tender Service and Contracts Finder.

It should be noted that this PIN/RFI invites individuals and organisations to express an interest in this RFI exercise only, and it is NOT a pre-qualification questionnaire, and is NOT part of any pre-qualification or selection process. This PIN/RFI is intended as an awareness, communication, and information gathering exercise. An expression of interest is no indication of a commitment to participate in the RFI process nor does it infer any preferential or special status on those individuals and organisations who express an interest in the RFI exercise.

NECS is utilising an electronic tendering portal (In-Tend) to manage this RFI and as such interested individuals and organisations will need to register on the portal to access and return the RFI documentation.

It is free to register on the portal, which can be accessed at any time of day. Should you have any queries, or are having problems registering on the portal, you should contact the eTendering provider by email: [email protected] or by phone 0844 2728810 Website: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/nhsnecsu/aspx/Home

Helpdesk Support is available (Monday to Friday 8:30am to 5.00pm).

Potential providers are to note that the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (as amended) may apply to a future procurement including the New Fair Deal non-statutory policy setting out how pensions issues are to be dealt with when staff are compulsorily transferred from the public sector to independent providers delivering public services.

The RFI documentation will be accessible from 27 September 2021 and completed RFI responses must be submitted before 5pm 8 October 2021.

Additional information: The In-Tend portal can be found at: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/nhsnecsu (Please follow the registration instructions if you are not already registered) and look for the project NHSE539 Request for Information - Clinical Referral Management Service. The RFI documentation will be accessible from 27 September 2021 and completed RFI responses must be returned by 5pm 08 October 2021.