Community Orthoptic Service

NHS Nottingham City CCG is leading procurement of a Community Orthoptic Service on behalf of itself and the other South Nottinghamshire CCGs (Nottingham West CCG, Rushcliffe CCG and Nottingham North & East CCG). The CCG is looking to appoint a single provider to provide a quality, safe and accessible community service for children and adults of all ages for the assessment, diagnosis and management of disorders of vision, eye movement and binocular function and will include:

• Strabismus (squint) • Amblyopia (lazy eye) • Refractive errors • Astigmatism • Myopia • Hyperopia

The service will implement best practice in line with professional guidance and national standards in order to assess and manage patients in a community setting where possible. The service will include a triage of all orthoptic referrals, working to robust protocols to determine the appropriate service to meet patient's needs and ensure safe, effective transfer to secondary care if their condition is suspected to be serious or complex.

The service will provide an equitable provision for patients in the community with visual health needs, ensuring care is tailored to the needs of patients (including very young children and patients with physical and/or learning disability).

Bids are invited within the total cost envelope of £220,000 (annual contract value), inclusive of all premises, staffing, prescribing and consumables costs.

The contract term will be for 2 year 7 months (September 2017 to March 2020) with option to extend.

Additional information: The Contracting Authority intends to use an eTendering system in this procurement exercise. The services described within this notice relate to the Light Touch Regime in the Public Procurement Regulations 2015. Neither the publication of this notice nor the employment of any particular terminology nor any other indication shall be taken to mean that the Contracting Authority intends to hold itself bound by any of the Regulations. Please see published documentation for further details. Suppliers instructions -How to Express Interest in this Tender: Register your company on the eSourcing portal (this is only required once). Browse to the eSourcing Portal: https://ardengemcsu.bravosolution.co.uk and click the link to register - Accept the terms and conditions and click 'continue' - Enter your correct business and user details. - Note the user-name you chose and click 'Save' when complete. - You will shortly receive an e-mail with your unique password (please keep this secure). 2. Express an Interest in the tender - Login to the portal with the username/password - Click the 'PQQs / ITTs Open To All Suppliers' link. (These are Pre-Qualification Questionnaires or Invitations to Tender open to any registered supplier). - Click on the relevant ITT_716 to access the content. - Click the 'Express Interest' button at the top of the page. - This will move the ITT into your My ITTs' page. (This is a secure area reserved for your projects only) - You can now access any attachments by clicking 'Buyer Attachments' in the ITT Details' box. 3. Responding to the tender - Click 'My Response' under 'ITT Details', you can choose to 'Create Response' or to 'Decline to Respond' (please give a reason if declining). - You can now use the 'Messages' function to communicate with the buyer and seek any clarification. - Note the deadline for completion, then follow the onscreen instructions to complete the ITT. - There may be a mixture of on-line and off-line actions for you to perform (there is detailed on-line help available). You must then submit your reply using the 'Submit Response' button at the top of the page. If you require any further assistance please consult the on-line help, or contact the eTendering help-desk.