Lancaster, Morecambe Bay & South Cumbria Lymphoedema Service - Cancer & Non Cancer

NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit (MLCSU) is working on behalf of NHS Lancashire & South Cumbria Integrated Care Board(ICB) who are looking to undertake a Competitive Process for the provision of a Lancaster, Morecambe Bay and South Cumbria Lymphoedema Service.

The aim is to commission a high quality, evidence-based, effective, equitable and accessible service for patients who have cancer-related and non-cancer related lymphoedema, regardless of aetiology, that ensures improved patient outcomes in relation to clinical needs, quality of life, health and well-being for the populations of Lancaster, Morecambe Bay and South Cumbria.

There will be a maximum of 1 contract totalling£2,028,707 for the full length of the contract. The contract will be for 3 years, with an option to extend for a further 2 years. The annual value is £405,741.

The Contract Start Date is 16th September 2024.

The ICB has set an affordability threshold within the Competitive Process. Bidders who submit a bid over the maximum contract value will not achieve the score of a pass. Their bid will be regarded as non-compliant and be a failed bid and the rest of the bid will be rejected and the scoring questions will not be evaluated. This will be checked during the preliminary stages of the evaluation during the compliance checks. The ICB may seek clarification on bids that are unusually low or above the affordability threshold. This is not a competition on price.

The ITT will be live on Wednesday 21st February2024 on the Atamis Portal.

The deadline for submissions will Friday 22nd March 2024 12:00pm midday.

The deadline for clarification questions is Tuesday12th March 2024 12:00pm.

As part of this Competitive Process, the Authority is intending to identify one provider.

To express interest and participate in the tender, please register and apply via Atamis e-sourcing portal https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome . (C206051,'Lancaster, Morecambe Bay & South Cumbria Lymphoedema Service-Cancer & Non Cancer').

The competitive tendering process to which this ITT relates to and further to which the Authority intends to purchase the Services as set out in regulation 11 of the provider selection regime 2023 for the award of a contract with a competition.

This ITT has been made available to all Bidders who have expressed a potential interest in delivering this service in line with the requirements which fall under Regulation 11 for the award of a contract with a competition, and Schedule 1 of the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime)Regulations 2023. As such, the competitive tendering of these Services is being run as a bespoke, single-stage tender process as described in the documentation in this ITT, and in the Find a Tender contract notice advertisement.

Additional information: The Authority reserves the right to make changes to the process as it sees necessary whilst adhering to those sections of the Provider Selection Regime regulations which lay out the principles for the competitive tendering process. The Authority will ensure that Bidders are made aware, in reasonable time, of any changes it makes to the process. All changes will be communicated through the Procurement portal messaging system, Atamis.

The Contracting Authority is not voluntarily following any other part of the Regulations.

Right to Cancel: The Contracting Authority reserves the right to discontinue the Competitive 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, orto 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 Regulations2004(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 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. If and when this requirement is offered to tender, this will be done via electronic means using the internet. Midlands and Lancashire CSU is conducting this procurement exercise as a central purchasing body for another NHS body with whom the successful bidder(s) will enter into contracts for the supply of the services.

Any other public-sector body detailed within this notice, wishing to access the contract may do so only with permission from the contracting NHS body.

Further details will be made available via documentation and information released during the Competitive Process.