PROVISION OF DIRECT ACCESS ADULT HEARING SERVICE

This is a call for competition. NHS Herefordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), NHS Redditch and Bromsgrove CCG, NHS South Worcestershire CCG and NHS Wyre Forest CCG (Worcestershire CCGs) are re-commissioning their Direct Access Adult Hearing service.

The pan-Worcestershire and Herefordshire Direct Access Adult Hearing Service is to provide an innovative and comprehensive patient-centred Integrated Hearing Service across Worcestershire and Herefordshire areas for non-complex audiology (55 plus years) within community-based settings under a local framework.

The Commissioners wish to receive responses to the Invitation to Tender (ITT) from suitably qualified and experienced Providers with the necessary capacity and capability (or a demonstrable ability to provide the necessary capacity and capability) to provide the range of services required.

The Provider must ensure services are appropriate to local needs, access and convenience are important aspects of a patient-centred service, but it is also vital that the services are appropriate and responsive to the needs of the local population. The aim is to provide a comprehensive patient-centred direct access adult hearing service for age related hearing loss in line with national guidance and local requirements.

The purpose of the Adult Hearing Service is to ensure:  Equitable access to high and consistent quality care for all patients using the service  A safe hearing service for patients that conforms to a recognised quality assurance tool e.g. the Improving Quality in Physiological Diagnostic Services Self-Assessment and Improvement Tool (IQIPS-SAIT) and is working towards IQIPS accreditation. The service must also recognise published clinical guidelines/good practice (as set out in Appendix 2)  Provide assessment and intervention for patients in accordance to the acceptance/exclusion criteria detailed within this specification. Please see service specification for further detail.

The contract duration will be for a period of 2 years with a possible extension of one year. Applicants are also invited to confirm as part of the tender which CCG areas of Worcestershire and Herefordshire they wish to deliver the service from.

The service will be commissioned via an open procurement process advertised to all providers which is proportionate to the value and complexity of the service and contract.

The ITT will be live on the 4th December 2018 on M&L CSU Bravo portal (see below) and it will have a deadline for submissions of 12:00 on the 3rd January 2019.

Clarifications may be asked during the procurement process up to a week before the ITT deadline, i.e. the deadline for submitting clarification questions on the tender is 17:00 28th December 2018.

Interested providers are guided to the MLCSU eProcurement portal Bravo at https://mlcsu.bravosolution.co.uk to register their interest and gain access to this procurement's documents and more specific information. Please see next page for ins

Additional information: NOTES

"Light Touch Regime" services This procurement is for clinical services which are Light Touch Regime services for the purpose of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 as specified in Schedule 3 of the Regulations ("Regulations"). Accordingly, the contracting authorities are only bound by those parts of the Regulations detailed in Chapter 3 Particular Procurement Regimes Section 7. The contracting authorities are not voluntarily following any other part of the Regulations. The procedure which the contracting authorities are following is set out in the MOI and ITT. As the CCG is a relevant body for the purpose of the National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No 2) Regulations 2013 these Regulations also apply to this procurement.

Right to Cancel The contracting authority reserves the right to discontinue the procurement process at any time, which shall include the right not to award a contract or contracts, and does not bind itself to accept the lowest tender, or any tender received, and reserves the right to award a contract in part, or to call for new tenders should it consider this necessary. The contracting authority shall not be liable for any costs or expenses incurred by any candidate or tenderer in connection with the completion and return of the information requested in this Contract Notice, or in the completion or submission of any tender, irrespective of the outcome of the competition or if the competition is cancelled or postponed. All dates, time periods and values specified in this notice are provisional and the contracting authority reserves the right to change these.

Transparency The contracting authority is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) and may be required to disclose information received in the course of this procurement under FOIA or the EIR. In addition, and in accordance with the UK Government's policies on transparency, the contracting authority intends to publish procurement documentation and the text of any resulting contractual arrangements, subject to possible redactions at the discretion of the contracting authority. Any redactions, whether in relation to information requests under FOIA, the EIR or policies on transparency will be in accordance with those grounds prescribed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. Further information on transparency can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-and-contracting-transparency-requirements-guidance

To register on the Bravo portal If your organisation has registered previously, you do not need to re-register. 1) Register on the portal webpage at https://mlcsu.bravosolution.co.uk (registration and use of the website is free of charge).

2) Once registered, candidates must Express their Interest by: a) logging into