NHS England & NHS Improvement - South East Market Briefing: Special Care and Paediatric Dentistry services

This notice is placed in order to facilitate early engagement with potential providers, and relates only to a pre-procurement market briefing.

NHS England & NHS Improvement - South East is seeking to recommission Special Care and Paediatric Dentistry services (currently known as Community Dental Services) in the South East of England and will be conducting a recommissioning process to award new contracts to provide these services from April 2022.

We will be commissioning new contracts to deliver Special Care and Paediatric Dentistry services in 5 geographical lots as follows:

• Kent • Sussex • Surrey • Hampshire and the Isle of Wight • Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire

The recommissioning process is anticipated to commence from January 2021, inviting expressions of interest to deliver services for specific geographic areas, with contract commencement in April 2022.

NHS England & NHS Improvement anticipates contracting for services under Personal Dental Services agreements, combined with NHS Standard contracts for General Anaesthetic Procedures). The total annual value of the combined services is anticipated to be in the region of c. £38m. This process is being carried out by NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit (SCW) on behalf of the Commissioners

Prospective providers are warmly invited to a pre-procurement market briefing event in November 2020, held virtually through Microsoft Teams on the following date:-

4pm - 6pm Tuesday 24th November 2020 by MS Teams

Registrations of interest to attend the event are welcome from providers who may be interested in these services, either in their own right, as a member of a consortium and/or other forms of partnership/multiple-organisation arrangement.

In order to attend, please register your interest in attending this Teams briefing by 12 noon on Friday 20th November 2020, including your organisation name and those individuals who will be joining the session. You can do this via the In-Tend Portal at https://in-tendhost.co.uk/scwcsu/aspx/ProjectManage/1090

MS Teams event details will be sent to individuals and organisations who confirm their participation for the session.

Providers may also indicate if they would like Commissioners to pass their contact details on to other providers to facilitate partnering/multiple-organisation opportunities.

Additional information: The aims for Special Care and Paediatric Dentistry service provision are to:

• Ensure access to dental care for children and patients with additional needs unable to receive care or treatment in a primary care setting due to their enhanced management needs • Provide care and treatment to children and those with additional needs in line with the evidence base and best practice to achieve clinically effective outcomes for patients • Contribute to the improvement of oral and general health and reduction in health inequalities of the local population with a focus on prevention both via service delivery and partnership working with a range of health care providers and other key stakeholders • Work in partnership with the wider dental system to facilitate access to early intervention for treatment to prevent the need for treatment at more advanced stage of disease

A Special Care and Paediatric Dentistry Draft Service Specification has been attached to this notice, along with draft details of geographic lot areas.

Interested providers will be able to view the associated notice and register to attend via the 'current tenders' list on the In-Tend e-procurement portal https://in-tendhost.co.uk/scwcsu/aspx/Home

This notice is an information gathering exercise rather than a call for competition in its own right, and therefore publication or response does not commit NHS England & NHS Improvement or respondents to a future procurement, nor provide any process exemptions or preferential treatment to any parties registering an interest.

NHS England & NHS Improvement will not be liable for costs incurred by any interested party in participating in this exercise. Interested parties should note that a response to this notice does not guarantee an automatic invitation to any subsequent formal procurement, which the commissioners will consider in due course.

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).