Contract award notice
Results of the procurement procedure
Section I: Contracting
entity
I.1) Name and addresses
West Essex Clinical Commissioning Group
Building 4, Spencer Close, St Margaret's Hospital, The Plain
Epping
CM16 6TN
UK
Contact person: Sarah Beaumont
E-mail: sarah.beaumont@attain.co.uk
NUTS: UKH35
Internet address(es)
Main address: https://westessexccg.nhs.uk/
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
I.5) Main activity
Health
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services — West Essex Clinical Commissioning Group
Reference number: ACE-0459-2021-West
II.1.2) Main CPV code
85100000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
This is a contract award notice which follows publication of a Voluntary Ex-Ante Transparency Notice published on 19 March 2021 (reference OJ S: 2021/S 055-140292) setting out the intention of the contracting authority to award a 12-month contract (with the option to extend for a further 12 months) for the provision of non-emergency patient transport services to its incumbent provider, East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST).
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.1.7) Total value of the procurement
Value excluding VAT:
4 000 000.00
GBP
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
34114122
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKH35
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
This is a contract award notice which follows publication of a Voluntary Ex-Ante Transparency Notice published on 19 March 2021 (reference OJ S: 2021/S 055-140292) setting out the intention of the contracting authority to award a 12-month contract (with the option to extend for a further 12 months) for the provision of non-emergency patient transport services to its incumbent provider, East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST).
This follows previous Notices placed in OJEU relating to the extension of the contract with EEAST for these services (VEAT 2020/S 048-114897 published on 9 March 2020 and Contract Award Notice (2020/S 096-230726 published 18 May 2020).
The Non-Emergency Patient Transport Service (NEPTS) takes patients to and from their homes, to their care provider, for planned appointments and treatment. Access to NEPTS is restricted by eligibility criteria, but at a high level are for those patients who:
— have a condition such that they need additional medical support during their journey,
— find it difficult to walk,
— are the parents, guardians, or children, of patients who need transport.
The current NEPTS contract in West Essex is due to expire on 31 March 2022. The contracting authority has plans to procure the service in collaboration with the Hertfordshire Clinical Commissioning Groups to create an Integrated Care System (ICS) wide service. A project team was established to progress this procurement process, through discussions it has been identified that it is likely that the service models will change in line with other transformation programmes being implemented, on which the success of this project is dependent on the outcomes. This will ensure that urgent and emergency journeys are fully considered to ensure gaps in current service provision are considered and commissioned appropriately. This requires significant commissioning and
operational work with the acute and community providers at a time when operational capacity is dedicated to managing and recovering from the pandemic.
The new 1-year contract is awarded covering the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, with the option to extend for a further year (to 31 March 2024), which is the subject of this Contract Award Notice. The value of the contract set out within this notice is the estimated value for the potential 2-year period. The value of the 1-year contract is c. GBP 2 million.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Quality criterion: Quality
/ Weighting: 100
Price
/ Weighting:
100
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
Yes
Description of options:
The contract includes the option to extend for a further year from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure
Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition
Justification for selected award procedure:
The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the Directive
Explanation
Through discussions in progressing the procurement it has been identified that it is highly likely that the required service model for the NEPTS service will change when the outpatient modernisation programme is fully implemented and transport needs from this contract through urgent journeys to emergency journeys need to be fully considered to ensure current gaps in service provision are considered and commissioned appropriately.
This will require significant commissioning and operational work with both Acute and Community providers at a time when operational capacity is dedicated to managing and recovering from the pandemic.
Therefore, it is likely that if the service is procured now the service will not achieve the outcomes required for the Hertfordshire and West Essex system as this work is dependent on the outputs from other transformational programmes currently ongoing across the ICS.
An extension to the contract will allow the transformational work to be completed to feed into the design of the new NEPTS service, ensuring that it is fit for purpose and can meet the needs of patients into the future.
IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement:
No
IV.2) Administrative information
IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
Notice number in the OJ S:
2021/S 055-140292
IV.2.9) Information about termination of call for competition in the form of a prior information notice
The contracting authority will not award any further contracts based on the above prior information notice
Section V: Award of contract
Title: Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services — West Essex Clinical Commissioning Group
A contract/lot is awarded:
Yes
V.2 Award of contract
V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
16/02/2021
V.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 1
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators:
No
V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
East of England Ambulance NHS Trust
Whiting Way, Melbourn, Cambridgeshire
Melbourn
SG8 6EN
UK
NUTS: UKH12
Internet address(es)
URL: https://www.eastamb.nhs.uk
The contractor is an SME:
No
V.2.4) Information on value of the contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Initial estimated total value of the contract/lot:
Total value of the contract/lot:
: 4 000 000.00
GBP
V.2.5) Information about subcontracting
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
High Court of Justice England and Wales
The Strand
London
WC2A 2LL
UK
VI.4.4) Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained
West Essex Clinical Commissioning Group
Building 4 Spencer Close, St Margaret's Hospital, The Plain
Epping
CM16 6TN
UK
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
11/04/2021