SARC Services for the North East Region

The North of England Commissioning Support is working for and on behalf of NHS England and NHS Improvement North East and Yorkshire - Health and Justice; the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria; the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner for Cleveland; the Durham Office of the Police, Crime and Victims Commissioner and the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cumbria (the Contracting Authorities). The purpose of this prior information notice (PIN) is to alert the market to the Commissioners' consideration of procuring a contract for the following services: • SARC Management, • Forensic Medical Examination, and • Crisis work (SARC support). The procurement of the above services is being considered for the following police force areas: • Northumbria • Durham • Cleveland • Cumbria

Paediatric acute and historic forensic medical services (for the North East) and Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) provision (for all areas) are currently excluded from scope.

The size of the area considered for inclusion in this contract may make it more practicable to procure the contract in more than one Lot and options will be market-tested before any approach is decided.

It is anticipated that market engagement will begin in September 2019 to inform any future procurement model and development of the service specification with a view to contracts potentially commencing from 01 April 2021.

It is important to note that this PIN is not a call for competition and as such you will need to express your interest in any future tender opportunity once any contract notice is published in OJEU and on Contracts Finder (approximately May 2020).

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.

Additional information: Registering an Interest:- If your organisation would like to register an interest in responding to this opportunity please register on the In-Tend portal at: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/nhsnecsu/aspx/Home Please note that the deadline for Expressions of Interest is 12.00 Noon on 23 August 2019. Please note that all communications will be conducted via the In-Tend portal only. 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 on 0844 2728810 Helpdesk Availability - Monday to Friday 8:30am to 5.00pm. Please note that this exercise is not part of any pre-qualification process. It is intended as an awareness, communication and information gathering exercise offering an opportunity for provider organisations to help inform potential future service models and/or commissioning intentions.