Non-Emergency Transport Service (NEPTS) Sussex Ref:19.484 Market Engagement

This is a market engagement exercise.

Sussex CCGs (NHS West Sussex, NHS Brighton & Hove, and NHS East Sussex) are pleased to announce the commissioning of a new term of provision for Non-Emergency Patient Transport Service from April 2022.

It is anticipated that the service would be offered for tender under a standard NHS contract for a period of five years commencing on the 1st April 2022 with option to extend for a maximum of up to a further two years. Value of contract circa £126m- £133m (including optional extension).

The aim of this service is to provide transport for eligible Sussex patients with a medical need, between their places of residence, primary, community, social care and acute settings transporting patients in safe, timely, comfortable and clinically appropriate transport without detriment to their medical condition. There is a need for the NEPTS Provider in the post-COVID pandemic to be able to respond to rapidly changing regional demand patterns to cater for the patient, the Acute Trusts and stakeholder partners.

This market engagement process is designed to help the Commissioners form a view of the best way to commission the service and is not the beginning of a tender exercise. A further tender advertisement will be issued at the appropriate time as/if required. You will not be disadvantaged in any subsequent tender process if you choose not to be involved in this market engagement but the Commissioners do wish to understand your views at this early stage.

Market engagement event - Monday 19th October 2-3pm: An online market engagement Webinar event will be held on Monday 19th October 2-3pm. Please use the procurement portal correspondence feature to register your attendance by no later than 18th October 2020 and include the following details:

Name of attendee, organisation, email address, telephone number.

A Draft Service Specification will be shared approximately 7 days in advance of the event via the procurement portal. The Commissioners wish to encourage Providers to submit questions about the requirements via the portal before the event as this may influence the content of the presentation on the day.

Diary invites will be sent out to all attendees in advance of this online event and a log of questions and Commissioner responses will be shared after (via the portal).

Additional information: Instructions to register on the portal...

1.Browse to the SoEPS Commissioning Support portal https://in-tendhost.co.uk/soepscommissioning 2.Click the "Register" link on the left-hand side of the page. 3.Enter your correct business and user details. 4.Note the email address and password chosen and Click "Register My Company" whencomplete. 5.Login to the portal with the username/password. 6.You will be prompted to change your password on first login. 7.Hover your mouse over the "Tenders" button on the main toolbar and choose the relevantoption: o"My Tenders" shows a list of the opportunities in which you have already expressed aninterest or to which you have been invited o"Awarded" shows a list of tenders awarded on the system (where these are were opento all) o"Current" shows a list of all the advertised opportunities on the system (i.e. open to all)in which you are able to express an interest o"Forthcoming" shows a list of pipeline projects (including those in which providers canstill express an interest - i.e. deadlines not yet reached) 8.Click on the "View Details" button for relevant opportunity to access the content, clicking"Express an Interest" where required to do so. 9.Click the relevant procurement as required then click the "Opt-In" at the bottom of thepage to start building your submission to the procurement stage. This will move the projectover to your "My Tenders" page. (This is a secure area reserved for your projects only). 10.Note the deadline for completion and follow the on screen instructions to complete the RFI/SQ/ITT, accessing any attached documents as required.