Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Marlborough Road

Swindon

SN3 6BB

UK

Contact person: Debbie Parin

E-mail: Debbie.parin@nhs.net

NUTS: UKK14

Internet address(es)

Main address: https://www.gwh.nhs.uk/

Address of the buyer profile: https://www.gwh.nhs.uk/

II.1.1) Title

II.1.2) Main CPV code

85111800

II.1.3) Type of contract

Services

II.1.4) Short description

A contract for the provision of pathology diagnostic testing and reporting services for a period of one year, with an option to extend for a further period of one year.

II.1.6) Information about lots

This contract is divided into lots: No

II.1.7) Total value of the procurement

Value excluding VAT: 1 320 000.00  GBP

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

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (GWH) intends to award a contract under Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii), to University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust (UHS) in respect of pathology referral testing and reporting, for a period of one year, with an option to extend for a further period of one year. This to maintain a continuation of service delivery, until the requirement is transitioned into the South 4 Pathology Partnership Trust (S4PP) network. This will be undertaken on completion of the network’s LIMs IT integration project, which has experienced delay during implementation but is now scheduled to “GoLive” in April 2024. UHS is the incumbent supplier and the new contract, whilst transition to S4PP is ongoing, will ensure that the current service is maintained until the described period of transition is complete, without potential risk to patient care and accumulating both cost and resource pressures. To engage another supplier for a temporary arrangement of this nature may result in the following:<br/>• A detrimental effect on patient care. Laboratory users in GWH will lose the continuity of analysis of tests being performed by the same laboratory. A shift in reference ranges (depending on the analytical platform used) may result in laboratory users having to allow for a change in analytical references when interpreting results, adding a layer of variation and complication in a series of their patient results.<br/>• IT system set-up. GWH relies on NPEX to send samples and receive reports back electronically. A temporary connection would need to be established with a new provider, resulting in the need for both IT and laboratory additional resource and subsequent cost. If manual (typed) reporting is required during set-up, additional staff will need to be recruited while an IT connection is established.<br/>• Documents within the laboratory will need to be re-written to incorporate a new supplier, which will require additional resource.<br/>• Packaging and transport will need reviewing and changing to accommodate any new supplier. This will result in additional resource to conduct the review and potentially additional cost to purchase suitable packaging.<br/>• Turnaround times (TATs) may vary while a new supplier is established. UHS TATs to GWH are both established and consistent, and users use this information to arrange subsequent clinics and consultations accordingly.<br/>• As a result of a review of the elements outlined above, GWH considers that for technical reasons described above, awarding UHS is the only reasonable solution to as it mitigates the risk of a detrimental effect on the service and an accumulation of preventable cost and resource pressures.<br/>GWH will observe a 10 day standstill period from the date of this notice before entering into a contract with UHS.

IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

Trust Management Offices, Mailpoint 18, Southampton General Hospital, Tremona Road, Southampton

Southampton

SO16 6YD

UK

Telephone: +44 2380777222

NUTS: UK

Internet address(es)

URL: https://www.uhs.nhs.uk

The contractor is an SME: No

VI.4.1) Review body

VI.4.4) Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained