II.2.3) Place of performance

NUTS code:

UKI

II.2.4) Description of the procurement

The Provider of the Service shall:

· Provide a consistent, effective, comprehensive, accessible, legal and appropriate TOP service to women, as early as possible and in consideration of their personal circumstances.

· Provide a quality service informed by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Guideline for the "Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion" (the RCOG Guideline 2011) and "Best practice in comprehensive abortion care" (RCOG June 2015), the MEDFASH standards for sexual health services and current best evidence. Deviations from the RCOG guideline shall be notified in writing and agreed with the commissioner.

· Provide a choice of TOP methods, clinically appropriate for the woman's gestation and clinical circumstances.

· Provide information about the options available regarding TOP, both written and verbal, in an objective and non-judgmental way, which allows the woman to make her own choice.

· Staff shall respect the woman's decision and offer respect and sensitivity to women accessing this service irrespective of their circumstances, including age or repeat TOP.

· Ensure that risk of infection and other complications are minimised.

· Ensure that opportunities for contraceptive information and supply, and sexual health screening are maximised.

· Develop and implement improved access and patient care pathways to primary, community and acute providers.

· Prevent avoidable harm with robust processes for identifying risk and communicating and embedding learning from experiences.

· Ensure that staff (including counsellors) are well informed about procedures, efficacy rates, relative risks and are able to support women to make informed choices about the method of TOP and future contraception.

· Increase sexual and reproductive health awareness among people accessing the provider site and women accessing the service.

· Identify and signpost women, who may be experiencing or at risk of abuse for example Domestic Abuse, Modern Slavery and any other forms of abuse, to an appropriate service.

· Identify and report vulnerable adults and children to adult and children safeguarding services.

· Identify and report (as a crime) cases of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) among women aged under 18 and signpost women of any age accessing the service who have experienced FGM to support as appropriate for the individual using an FGM Risk Assessment Tool and referral pathways.

· Offer face to face counselling services to women.

· Provide compulsory counselling service to women under 16 years.

· Provide advice to women regarding complications, abnormalities etc., which they may experience.

· Undertake all pre-procedure investigations, signposting the women into an appropriate care service as necessary.

· Provide a comprehensive, electronic discharge summary to the GP (where consent has been given by the woman to share information with the GP).

Objectives

The Provider of the Service shall:

· Offer high quality, impartial support and advice to all women who request a TOP, regardless of age, ethnicity, language, disability, sexual orientation, religious or personal circumstances.

· Signpost women who, after the initial consultation, are undecided about TOP to appropriate services for support, advice and counselling.

· Provide women with access to a TOP as early as possible but procedures must be available up to the legal time limit.

· Provide a choice of TOP methods clinically appropriate for a woman's gestation and clinical circumstances.

· Improve the sexual health of women through providing sexual health screening and treatment as appropriate for Chlamydia, other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV.

· Provide information, advice and provision of the full range of effective contraception methods including Long Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC).

· Provide an assessment appointment within 5 calendar days of referral (which shall be prioritised in the case of a woman with a pregnancy at late gestation) and no later than 14 calendar days from referral. The procedure shall take place within 7 calendar days and no later than 14 calendar days from the time of decision to proceed, following the "late and complex medical cases pathway".

II.2.6) Estimated value

Value excluding VAT: 5 683 554.00  GBP

II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system

Duration in months: 72

II.2.13) Information about European Union funds

The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No

II.2.14) Additional information

This notice is a call for competition. Interested organisations must express an interest to take part in the procurement process.

The contract will be awarded without publication of a further call for competition. In the event that only one organisation expresses an interest and submits a duly completed expression of interest questionnaire, NHS North Central London will have the right to enter into a direct negotiation with that organisation to award a contract.

The contract is a going to be for 2 years with an option to extend for a further 4 years . The total indicative value of the contract over the 6 years is £5,683,554. Please note that, as this is an AQP contract, there is potential for this to be rolled over at the end of the 6 years period at the sole discretion of the Contracting Authority.

The Contract is expected to commence on 1st April 2023, with the possible deadline for delivery of the service being 31st March 2029.

To participate in the procurement exercise, potential bidders will need to register their organisation on our e-tendering portal (if you are not already registered on e-tendering portal)(https://proContract.due-north.com/register) and express their interest by completing the attached Expression of Interest Bid Response Document. Your expression of interest will be treated as incomplete should you fail to submit a duly completed expression of interest bid response document.

The deadline for the expression of interest is 14:00 - 02 December 2022

The expression of interest bid response document is available @ (Link to be added later). Interested organisation must download the expression of interest bid response document.

Duly completed expression of interest bid response document must be submitted via messaging facility on this project on ProContract.

If you have any clarification questions, please submit it via messaging facility on pro-contract.

ANY PROVIDER CURRENTLY DELIVERING THE TERMINATION OF PREGRANCY SERVICE FOR THE AUTHORITY NEED NOT REAPPLY OR EXPRESS AN INTEREST AS THEIR CURRENT CONTRACT WILL BE ROLLED OVER.