Contract notice
Section I: Contracting
authority
I.1) Name and addresses
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Glossop Road
Sheffield
S10 2JF
UK
E-mail: sth.pathologyprocurement@nhs.net
NUTS: UKE32
Internet address(es)
Main address: https://www.sth.nhs.uk
Address of the buyer profile: https://www.sth.nhs.uk
I.3) Communication
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge at:
https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome
Additional information can be obtained from the abovementioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be sent electronically to:
https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome
Tenders or requests to participate must be sent to the abovementioned address
Electronic communication requires the use of tools and devices that are not generally available. Unrestricted and full direct access to these tools and devices is possible, free of charge, at:
https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Other: NHS Trust
I.5) Main activity
Health
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
Procurement of SYB Pathology Managed Service
II.1.2) Main CPV code
85111800
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
This Contract Notice advertises a contract opportunity for the provision of a Pathology Managed Service Contract to the following five NHS Trusts working in partnership to deliver the South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Pathology Service (SYB Pathology Service): (1) Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (part of BRILS); (2) Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; (3) The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust; (4) Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and (5) Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (STHFT) (the “MSC”). During the term of the MSC, it is anticipated that Chesterfied Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (“Chesterfield) may become an associate member of the SYB Pathology Partnership in relation to Histopathology and therefore the MSC may be varied to enable Chesterfield to get the benefit of the SYB Pathology Service. On 1st April 2024 a single pathology service was established governed and managed by STHFT as the Host Organisation on behalf of the partnership. Over the coming years SYB Pathology will transition to the Target Operating Model which will deliver significant quality and efficiency benefits longer term.<br/> <br/>The establishment of the MSC will support transition to the target operating model and deliver significant quality and efficiency benefits for patients, clinicians, staff and wider stakeholders which includes the use of innovative and cutting-edge technologies. The MSC will cover all current and future workloads during its term and must meet all regulatory requirements and provide all integrated IT firmware, analysers, equipment, test kits, assays, reagents, chemicals, specific and general lab consumables and associated products and services to deliver the entire pathology and related hosted services across all sites and departments which form part of the SYB Pathology Service.<br/> <br/>Any resulting contract from this procurement process will be entered into by STHFT on behalf of the five organisations aforementioned and references to the “Authority” in this Contract Notice should be read as STHFT for and on behalf of the SYB Pathology partnership.
II.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT:
500 000 000.00
GBP
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
85111800
51430000
71900000
45215146
85100000
85111800
45215100
38434520
33100000
33140000
33696000
38434500
33110000
38510000
48000000
72224000
79411000
79418000
79419000
33910000
33696500
33790000
33793000
38000000
38437000
38519500
45214610
39180000
39181000
42122500
42300000
42671100
42931100
45214430
51430000
71900000
73111000
64120000
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKE3
Main site or place of performance:
All laboratory sites across SYB
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
The scope of the Services for the Managed Service includes the provision and maintenance of all pathology equipment and their associated IT, interfaces, and licences as well as the provision of all associated consumables; reagents, collection devices, test kits, quality control/calibration material essential for the delivery of the activity, as well as the transferring of existing assets and contracts and scope of services covered under this tender. In addition to this, the MSC provider will be responsible for the end-to-end management and delivery of the Supply Chain incorporating all products and the execution of a full Inventory Management System. Specialisms within scope of this procurement exercise as as follows; <br/><br/>Managed Service Requirements<br/>Pre & Post Analytics<br/>Clinical Biochemistry & Viral Serology <br/>Haematology <br/>Coagulation<br/>Blood Transfusion<br/>Blood Cultures<br/>IT, Interfacing and Data Management<br/><br/>The Authority is using the Competitive Procedure with Negotiation (CPN) in line with the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (as amended EU Exit (2020) etc.) to identify and define a solution which best addresses the Authority's requirements, as described within this suite of procurement documents.<br/><br/>The potential maximum aggregate value of the contract as advertised in the Find a Tender Service (FTS) is £500m. This is inclusive of all Phases and In Scope Services but also considers any potential modifications which may be made to this Contract throughout its life. As such, this is not a guaranteed value. <br/> <br/>However, for the purposes of this procurement, the maximum price is £12.4m, a total value of the 15-year contract is £186m. <br/><br/>Prices submitted for year 1 of the contract will be adjusted by the inflationary uplift only throughout the life of the contract. <br/><br/>Bids submitted which exceed the maximum price will be considered as unaffordable and will be rejected.<br/><br/>The deadline for submitting a response to the Selection Questionnaire is 19th June 2024 at 12noon.
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:
500 000 000.00
GBP
II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 180
This contract is subject to renewal: No
II.2.9) Information about the limits on the number of candidates to be invited
Envisaged minimum number: 2
Objective criteria for choosing the limited number of candidates:
See Additional Information located in Section VI)
II.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted:
No
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
Yes
Description of options:
The Authority require Bidders to submit Options for their responses to the Invitation to Tender Questions for the following specifications:<br/><br/>• Specification 4 – Haematology<br/>• Specification 5 – Coagulation<br/>• Specification 6 – Blood Transfusion<br/>• Specification 7 – Blood Culture<br/><br/>By ‘options’ we mean submissions which are ‘distinctly different’. Bidders are required to submit a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 3 options for each specialism identified.<br/><br/>Each option will be evaluated against the same evaluation criteria using the same evaluation scoring matrix as set out within the procurement documentation. Bidders are required to respond to all questions linked to the requirement for each option that they are submitting.<br/><br/>Bidders are required to submit a separate commercial offer for each combination of options submitted. In determining which Option has scored the highest and would be part of the subsequent awarded contract, the percentage score awarded for commercials will be added to moderated quality and social value scores. The award will be made on the highest scoring proposal, including quality, price and social value scores.
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.1.2) 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
Competitive procedure with negotiation
IV.1.4) Information about reduction of the number of solutions or tenders during negotiation or dialogue
Recourse to staged procedure to gradually reduce the number of solutions to be discussed or tenders to be negotiated
IV.1.5) Information about negotiation
The contracting authority reserves the right to award the contract on the basis of the initial tenders without conducting negotiations
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:
2022/S 000-034419
IV.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
Date:
19/06/2024
IV.2.3) Estimated date of dispatch of invitations to tender or to participate to selected candidates
Date:
09/09/2024
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: 12 (from the date stated for receipt of tender)
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.1) Information about recurrence
This is a recurrent procurement:
No
VI.3) Additional information
The procurement exercise is initiated with the publication of the Contract Notice alongside the Selection Questionnaire (SQ) and full draft copy of the Invitation to Tender (ITT) documentation. Following evaluation of SQ responses, 3 (three) Bidders will be invited to submit Initial Tenders. The Authority reserves the right to award a Contract on the basis of an Initial Tender without negotiation. Should the Authority carry out a negotiation phase, there will be a period for negotiation. Bidders will then be invited to submit Final Tenders. All information will be published on the Atamis procurement Health Family Supplier Portal (Atamis) https://atamis-1928.my.salesforce-sites.com. Please ensure your organisation is registered on the Atamis e-Tendering website to access the procurement documents: https://www.atamis.co.uk/registration Please note that the tender will not be accepted by any means other than through the Attain e-Procurement Portal.<br/>Following publication, interested parties will have the opportunity to attend a Bidder Information Event during the submission window for completion of the SQ. Details of the shortlisting criteria, award criteria, the applicable weightings and evaluation methodology can be found within the procurement documents available via Atamis. The dates in the procurement documents may be subject to change. Bidders will be required to consider the implications and codes of practice relating to TUPE implications for staff. The Authority will endeavour to facilitate the transfer of data where relevant and lawful. Bidders are required to make their own assessment of whether TUPE applies and the consequences of TUPE. <br/>The MSC will include Phases as set out in the procurement documents. The successful supplier in this procurement process (the “MSC Supplier”) will start with Phase 1 to fit in with the Authority’s roll out of its LIMS and is the establishment of the Pan Pathology Service to cover the entirety of the SYB Pathology Network’s services including associated hosted services across all SYB Pathology Network sites, and all current and future associated pathology and point of care testing (“POCT”) workloads within the term of the MSC. Phase 1 will also include the provision of all equipment, reagents, assays, equipment and assay related consumables, associated IT hardware and software (including middleware) associated with the provision of routine Blood Sciences (including Haematology, Coagulation, Clinical Biochemistry, Immunoassay, Viral Serology, Blood Transfusion) and Blood Culture Incubation (Microbiology) across all sites in SYB Pathology. The transfer of title of Phase 1 legacy equipment and the associated management of that equipment will be transferred to the MSC Supplier.<br/>There are a number of current pathology managed service contracts, 3rd party contracts and pricing agreements held by the NHS Trusts within the SYB Pathology Network that will be novated into the MSC at the earliest opportunity in order to maintain services provision and agreed pricing. These will include reagent rental contracts, equipment leasing contracts and associated service and maintenance agreements. Phase 2 is to commence on award of the MSC and will include a number of mini procurements to be carried out by the MSC Supplier for equipment, products and services listed in the procurement documents. Any resulting contracts in Phase 2 will be sub-contracts to the MSC. Phase 3 will include the transfer of title of other legacy equipment and the management of that equipment to the MSC Supplier and will include the ongoing 3rd part contract procurement is undertaken during the term of the MSC as well as the procurement of all other general consumables related to the services within scope of the MSC. Phase 3 may also include the procurement of a logistics provider and/or the novation of a logistics provider into the MSC so that the MSC Supplier manages the logistics provider. Such logistics will include the transportation of samples from GP practices and other sample collection points to laboratories, and also moving samples between laboratories, which is crucial to ensure sample integrity and support timely analysis and reporting. <br/>During the term of the MSC, the Authority may wish to introduce changes and/or additional services and/or expand the services by varying the MSC where there are additional or changes to the requirements of the SYB Pathology Network (including but not limited to equipment, reagents, assays, assay related consumables, associated IT hardware and software (including middleware)) that are required for the operation of the SYB Pathology Network. These new requirements may be due to scientific developments and/or developments of new laboratory technologies and/or changes that impact the provision of the pathology services by the SYB Pathology Network and/or changes and developments in point of care testing and/or pathology accredited systems. Where any standards that the SYB Pathology Network are required to comply with change then any replacement equipment and/or changes to reflect any new standards will be in scope of the MSC. Any replacement equipment regarding digital pathology will also be within scope of the MSC. Under the MSC, there will be a need for on-going assessment, implementation of innovative changes and collaborative working across the SYB Pathology Network, the MSC Supplier and sub-contractors. The way the service looks at the end of the contract will likely be very different to the initial implementation. The contract value in section II.2.6 of this Contract Notice is reflective of potential variations during the term of the MSC. <br/>The Authority reserves the right to (1) cancel the procurement process (or any part of it) at any point, make no award at all, award incrementally, change the basis of and the procedures for the procurement process at any time, or procure the subject matter of the contract by alternative means if it appears that it can be more advantageously procured by alternative means; (2) to verify the accuracy of any answers given by a Bidder as part of this procurement process (including, but not limited to, relating to the Bidder’s financial stability) at any time during the procurement process; (3) incorporate any of the information given in the procurement process into the MSC which it enters into with any successful Bidder. The Authority is not liable for any costs resulting from any of the circumstances outlined above or for any other costs incurred by those participating in this procurement process.”
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
High Court of Justice for England and Wales
The Strand
London
WC2A 2LL
UK
VI.4.3) Review procedure
Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures:
STH shall in accordance with the Public Contracts (Amendment) Regulations 2015, incorporate a minimum 10 day standstill period commencing at the point that information on the intention to award the contract is sent to tenderers.<br/><br/>The Authority shall, as soon as possible after the decision has been made, inform the tenderers and candidates of its decision, and shall do so by notice in writing by the most rapid means of communication practicable.<br/>Should additional information be required, please contact the person cited in paragraph I.1) of this form. If an appeal regarding the award of a contract has not been successfully resolved, Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (SI 2015 No 6) provide for aggrieved parties who have been harmed or are at risk of harm by a breach of the rules to take action in the High Court (England and Wales).<br/><br/>Any such action must be started within 30 days beginning with the date when the aggrieved party first knew or ought to have known that grounds for starting the proceedings had arisen. Where a contract has not been entered into the Court may order the setting aside of the award decision or order the authority to amend any document and may award damages. Following the 10 day standstill period, if no further debriefing has been requested, the Court may only award damages once the contract has been entered into.
VI.4.4) Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Herries Road,
Sheffield
S5 7AU
UK
Internet address(es)
URL: https://www.sth.nhs.uk/
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
17/05/2024