Contract notice
Section I: Contracting
authority
I.1) Name and addresses
National Health Service Commissioning Board (otherwise known as NHS England)
Quarry House, Quarry Hill
Leeds
LS2 7UE
UK
Contact person: NHS England Commercial Team
Telephone: +44 1138250644
E-mail: nhsengland.commercial@nhs.net
NUTS: UK
Internet address(es)
Main address: https://www.england.nhs.uk/
I.2) Joint procurement
The contract is awarded by a central purchasing body
I.3) Communication
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge at:
https://nhsengland.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html
Additional information can be obtained from the abovementioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be sent electronically to:
https://nhsengland.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html
Tenders or requests to participate must be sent to the abovementioned address
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
National or federal agency/office
I.5) Main activity
Health
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
International Recruitment of General Practitioners (GPs) Framework Agreement.
Reference number: 16_10_01
II.1.2) Main CPV code
79625000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
NHS England General Practice Forward View (GPFV) committed 2 400 000 000 GBP of extra funding to General Practice. The GPFV aims to deliver an additional 5 000 medical practitioners (doctors) working in General Practice before April 2020. A key part of this is to recruit a proportion of the additional general medical practitioners (GPs) from overseas from Autumn 2017 to April 2020. It is currently anticipated that between 2 000 and 3 000 GPs may be recruited from overseas. This is an approximate number based on anticipated requirements. The actual number of GPs recruited through this potential framework agreement may be more or less than the anticipated number. To support this, NHS England is seeking to establish a Framework Agreement of International Recruitment service providers. Potential Providers will be required to deliver all of the services if appointed on to the resulting Framework Agreement:
II.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT:
100 000 000.00
GBP
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
79600000
79613000
79632000
79633000
80520000
85120000
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UK
Main site or place of performance:
At NHS premises (predominately General Practices) across England.
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
NHS England General Practice Forward View (GPFV) committed 2 400 000 000 GBP of extra funding to General Practice. In terms of workforce, the FYFV aims to deliver an additional 5 000 medical practitioners (doctors) working in General Practice before April 2020.
A key part of the GPFV is to recruit a proportion of the additional 5 000 general medical practitioners (GPs) from overseas from Autumn 2017 through to April 2020. It is currently anticipated that between 2 000 and 3 000 of those 5 000 GPs may be recruited from overseas. This is an approximate number based on anticipated requirements. The actual number of GPs recruited through this potential framework agreement may be more or less than the anticipated 2 000 to 3 000.
To support this, NHS England is seeking to establish a Framework Agreement of International Recruitment service providers.
Potential Providers will be required to deliver all of the following services if appointed on to the resulting Framework Agreement:
— Recruitment Services (including: identification and sourcing of candidates, leading recruitment campaigns, visa/immigration screening and interviewing of candidates, pre-employment screening, basic induction).
— Non-clinical training Services (including off-shore and residential on-shore within England).
— Relocation Services.
Potential Providers seeking to be appointed on to the Framework Agreement must have the ability to deliver all of the services, either directly through their own organisation or via the support of sub-contracting/supply chain arrangements. Bids from Single Bidding Entities, Consortia (Group of Economic Operators) and/or Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) are permitted.
A full description of the requirements are provided within Document 2: Statement of Requirements within the Invitation To Tender (ITT) documentation associated with this opportunity, which is available via https://nhsengland.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html
II.2.5) Award criteria
Price is not the only award criterion and all criteria are stated only in the procurement documents
II.2.6) Estimated value
Value excluding VAT:
100 000 000.00
GBP
II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 36
This contract is subject to renewal: Yes
Description of renewals:
Subject to NHS England policy and strategy in 2020, this framework agreement may be renewed by a [period of up to twelve (12) months at the option of NHS England.
II.2.9) Information about the limits on the number of candidates to be invited
II.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted:
No
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
Yes
Description of options:
Option on the part of NHS England to renew the Framework, as described above.
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 III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information
III.1) Conditions for participation
III.1.1) Suitability to pursue the professional activity, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers
List and brief description of conditions:
Potential Providers are required to declare within their response to the Selection Questionnaire Questions established for this procurement exercise (Document 4 of the Invitation to Tender) of:
1. Registration with the appropriate professional or trade register(s) in the member state;
and
2. Legal requirement to provide the services specified in this procurement exercise.
This procurement exercise will be conducted via the Authority's e-tendering portal (https://nhsengland.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html). There will be no hard-copy documents issued to Potential Providers and all communications between Potential Providers and the Authority, including tender submissions will be through the e-tendering portal.
III.1.2) Economic and financial standing
Selection criteria as stated in the procurement documents
III.1.3) Technical and professional ability
Selection criteria as stated in the procurement documents
III.2) Conditions related to the contract
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure
Open procedure
IV.1.3) Information about a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system
The procurement involves the establishment of a framework agreement with several operators.
Envisaged maximum number of participants to the framework agreement: 8
Justification for any framework agreement duration exceeding 4 years: The proposed Framework Agreement is envisaged to be awarded for a period of 36 months, with an option for the Authority to extend for a maximum period of an additional 12 months
IV.1.6) Information about electronic auction
An electronic auction will be used
Additional information about electronic auction:
Electronic auctions will not be used in the procurement exercise to establish the Framework Agreement.
Electronic auctions may be undertaken by Participating Authorities accessing the resulting Framework Agreements, when establishing individual Call-Off Contracts.
IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement:
Yes
IV.2) Administrative information
IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
Notice number in the OJ S:
2016/S 202-365036
IV.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
Date:
22/09/2017
Local time: 12:00
IV.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted
EN
IV.2.6) Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender
Duration in months: 4 (from the date stated for receipt of tender)
IV.2.7) Conditions for opening of tenders
Date:
22/09/2017
Local time: 12:00
Place:
To be submitted via https://nhsengland.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.html
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.1) Information about recurrence
This is a recurrent procurement:
No
VI.2) Information about electronic workflows
Electronic ordering will be used
Electronic invoicing will be accepted
Electronic payment will be used
VI.3) Additional information
This procurement is being conducted by NHS England on behalf of itself and those contracting authorities which are listed within each of the groupings set out on the internet pages accessible via the following links (together with any future successors to those contracting authorities), any or all of whom may wish to procure services from a provider or providers through this framework:
— NHS England Area Teams:
http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/AreaTeamListing.aspx
— National Health Service Clinical Commissioning Groups in England:
http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/CCGListing.aspx
— National Health Service Trusts and Foundation Trusts in England:
http://www.nhs.uk/servicedirectories/pages/nhstrustlisting.aspx
— National Health Service Mental Health Trusts in England:
http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/MentalHealthTrustListing.aspx
— NHS Care Trusts in England:
http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/CareTrustListing.aspx
— Those National Health Service bodies in England which are Special Health Authorities:
http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/SpecialHealthAuthorityListing.aspx
— Other National Health Service bodies:
http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/OtherListing.aspx
— NHS Trust Development Authority (TDA):
http://www.ntda.nhs.uk/
— Arm's Length Bodies:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/arms-length-bodies/our-arms-length-bodies
— And any other provider of primary medical services:
(a) who are a party to any of the following contracts:
— General Medical Services (GMS),
— Personal Medical Services (PMS),
— Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS) and/or
(b) Commissioned by NHS England or other organisations involved in commissioning or overseeing General Practitioner services, as described above.
— Social Enterprises:
http://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/
— Local Authorities:
http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/org/la-data.do
Potential Providers should note that in accordance with the UK Government's policies on transparency, the Authority intends to publish the Invitation to Tender (ITT) document and any text of any Framework Agreement awarded, subject to possible redactions at the discretion of the Authority. The terms of the Framework Agreement will also permit a Participating Authority, awarding a contract under this Framework Agreement, to publish the text of that contract, subject to possible redactions at the discretion of the Participating Authority. Further information on transparency can be found at:
http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-and-contracting-transparency-requirements-guidance
The Authority expressly reserves the right (i) not to award any contract as a result of the procurement process commenced by publication of this notice; and (ii) to make whatever changes it may see fit to the content and structure of the procurement exercise; and in no circumstances will the Authority be liable for any costs incurred by candidates. If the Authority decides to enter in to a Framework Agreement with a successful provider, this does not mean that there is any guarantee of subsequent contracts being awarded pursuant to it. Any expenditure, work or effort undertaken prior to contract award is accordingly a matter solely for the commercial judgement of Potential Providers.
Any orders placed under this Framework Agreement will form a separate contract under the scope of this Framework between the Supplier and the specific requesting Participating Authority. The Authority and other Participating Authorities utilising the Framework reserve the right to use any electronic portal during the life of the agreement.
The duration referred to in Section II 2.7) is for the placing of orders.
The value provided in Section II 2.6) is only an estimate. The Authority cannot guarantee to Suppliers any business through this Framework Agreement.
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
HM Courts of Justice
London
UK
VI.4.3) Review procedure
Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures:
The Authority will incorporate a standstill period at the point information about the actual award of the contract is communicated to tenderers.
That notification will provide information on the award decision. The standstill period, which will be for a minimum of Ten (10) calendar days, provides time for unsuccessful tenderers to challenge the award decision before the contract is entered into. The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended) provide remedies under statute for aggrieved parties.
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
22/08/2017