Provision of NHS Personal Dental Services in both Marlborough, Wiltshire and Westbury, Wiltshire - NHS England South West (North)

NHS England South West (North) (the Commissioner) is seeking to commission dental services for the delivery of approximately 8,900 Units of Dental Activity (UDAs) for patients living in and around the Marlborough, Wiltshire area, and 10,177 Units of Dental Activity (UDAs) for patients living in and around the Westbury, Wiltshire area. The procurement is being carried out by NHS South, Central & West Commissioning Support Unit (SCWCSU) on behalf of the Commissioners, and is offered due to the expiry of Contracts. New services for Marlborough, Wiltshire will be required to be delivered from within a 2 mile radius of SN8 4BY, and for Westbury, Wiltshire from within a 5 mile radius of BA13 3FQ.

The 8,900 Marlborough UDAs are expected to provide dental services for approximately 3,869 patients, and the 10,177 Westbury UDAs for 4,424 patients (based on the NHS England South (North) West average of 2.3 UDAs per patient).

The Commissioner will be contracting for the Services using standard Personal Dental Services (PDS) Agreements and appended service specifications. The Agreements are both offered for 4 year periods which are anticipated to commence on 13th May 2019 *.

UDAs will be offered at a fixed price of £23.60 per UDA exclusive of VAT which is non-negotiable.

The successful bidder will be required to accept new patients from the start of the agreement.

The successful bidder will also be required to work closely with the NHS England Commissioning Team in order to co-ordinate and promote patient access to achieve the expected level of dental performance.

The service specification is an appendix to the NHS (General Dental Services /Personal Dental Services Contracts) Regulations 2005.

* The Commissioner anticipates services to commence on the 13th May 2019 for Marlborough, and the 27th June 2019 for Westbury, however if new premises need to be sourced by the successful provider the contract start date will be negotiated and the final implementation plan will be confirmed between the Commissioner and the successful provider during mobilisation.

Additional information: Interested providers will be able to view the tender opportunity via the 'current tenders' list on the e-procurement portal (In-tend). https://in-tendhost.co.uk/scwcsu/aspx/Home

In order to submit a bid, you will need to register on the e-procurement portal and 'express an interest' and then complete all necessary questions as specified within the documents.

On registration, please include at least two contacts to allow for access to the portal in times of absence.

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).

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 Contracting Authority intends to voluntarily observe the award decision notices provisions and 10 day standstill period described in Regulation 86 of the Regulations. Unsuccessful Bidders will receive scores and reasons for the decision, including the characteristics and relative advantages of the winning bid and the reasons why the Bidder/application was unsuccessful. Deadline for lodging of appeals should be in accordance with Regulation 87 and Regulation 91 of the Regulations.