NHS England South (South East) - Provision of a Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) to the Surrey area

NHS England seeks to commission a Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) in Surrey. This procurement is being carried out by NHS South, Central & West Commissioning Support Unit (SCWCSU) on behalf of the Commissioners.

In April 2013, NHS England became responsible for the commissioning of SARCs. A SARC provides services to victims of rape or sexual assault regardless of whether the victim reports the offence to the police or not. SARCs provide immediate medical care and support for victims of sexual violence, with onward referral to other health and social care services. SARCs can see both recent victims and victims whose experiences were in the past, and can offer victims the opportunity to assist in a police investigation of their crime, including undergoing a forensic medical examination. The Surrey SARC also provides services for children and young people in partnership with community providers across Surrey.

The Surrey SARC is commissioned by NHS England under an NHS Standard Contract, working with the Surrey Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and other commissioning and provider partners to enable the delivery of Sexual Assault Services. These activities are coordinated from the local Sexual Exploitation and Assault Management Board.

Contracts will be for an initial term of three years, with a possible extension of any period up to a further 2 years, as defined and at the discretion of the Commissioner. Services are planned to commence from 1st June 2017.

A prior information/market engagement notice was published in relation to this procurement in June 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.

NHS England will not be liable for costs incurred by any interested party in participating in this process.

Interested parties who wish to take part in the procurement are invited to take part in an Invitation To Tender (ITT) process, based on the Open procedure, and designed to 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/254

Additional details/description is continued in Additional Text below.

Additional information: 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 responses must be returned by 12 Noon on 12th October 2016.

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. 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).