VOLUNTARY EX ANTE TRANSPARENCY NOTICE

Section I: Contracting Authority/Entity

I.1)

Name, Address and Contact Point(s)

I.2)

Type of contracting Authority and Main Activity or Activities

Ministry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local sub-divisions National or federal agency/Office Regional or local Authority Regional or local Agency/Office Body governed by public law European Institution/Agency or International Organisation

General public services Defence Public order and safety Environment Economic and financial affairs Health Housing and community amenities Social protection Recreation, culture and religion Education

Section II: Object of the Contract

II.1)

Description

II.1.1)

Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority

Auditing Services sub-contract.

II.1.2(a))

Type of works contract

II.1.2(b))

Type of supplies contract

II.1.2(c))

Type of service contract

II.1.2)

Main site or location of works, place of delivery or performance

II.1.3)

This notice involves a framework agreement

II.1.4)

Short description of the contract or purchase(s)

Auditing services. The Sussex Community NHS Trust as a host, currently employs a team of staff who provide a range of audit services to other NHS Bodies under a mixture of contracts, service level agreements and intra NHS agreements. The team are refered to as the South Coast Audit Consortium. This consortium is not a legal entity to the Sussex Community NHS Trust. The existing contractual agreements with the various NHS bodies are held in the names of the Sussex Community NHS Trust.

The services are more specifically are internal auditing, IT auditing, counter fraud, security management, didgital forensics and personal safety training.

II.1.5)

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

II.1.6)

Contract covered by the government procurement agreement (GPA)

II.2)

Total final value of the contract(s)

II.2.1)

Total final value of the contract(s)

Section IV: Procedure

IV.1)

Type of procedure

IV.1.1)

Type of procedure

IV.2)

Award criteria

IV.2.1)

Award criteria

IV.2.2)

An electronic auction has been used

IV.3)

Administrative information

IV.3.1)

File reference number attributed by the contracting authority

IV.3.2)

Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract

Other previous publications

Section V: Award of contract

Contract No:

 Lot Number: 

 Title: 

V.1)

Date of contract award decision:

V.2)

Numbers of offers received:

V.3)

Name and address of economic operator to whom the contract has been awarded

V.4)

Information on value of contract

V.5)

The contract is likely to be subcontracted

Short description of the value/proportion of the contract to be subcontracted

Section VI: Complementary Information

VI.1)

Contract related to a project and/or programme financed by community funds?

VI.2)

Additional Information

To view this notice, please click here: https://www.delta-esourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html?noticeId=77383865.

GO Reference: GO-20131025-PRO-5221853.

VI.3)

Procedures for appeal

VI.3.1)

Body responsible for appeal procedures

Body responsible for mediation procedures

VI.3.2)

Lodging of appeals

VI.3.3)

Service from which information about the lodging of appeals may be obtained

VI.4)

Dispatch date of this Notice

Annex D1 – General procurement

Justification for the award of the contract without prior publication of a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU)
Directive 2004/18/EC

a) No tenders or no appropriate tenders in response to:

	Open procedure
	Restricted procedure

b) The products involved are manufactured purely for the purpose of research, experiment, study or development under the conditions stated in the Directive (for supplies only).

c) The works/goods/services can be provided only by a particular tenderer for reasons that are:

	Technical
	Artistic
	Connected with the protection of exclusive rights

d) Extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable by the contracting authority and in accordance with the strict conditions stated in the Directive.

e) Additional works/deliveries/services are ordered under the strict conditions stated in the Directive.

f) New works/services, constituting a repetition of existing works/services and ordered in accordance with the strict conditions stated in the Directive.

g)Service contract awarded to the successful candidate or one of them after a design contest.

h) For supplies quoted and purchased on a commodity market.

i) For the purchase of supplies on particularly advantageous terms:

	from a supplier which is definitely winding up its business activities
	from the receivers or liquidators of a bankruptcy, an arrangement with creditors or a similar procedure.

j) All tenders submitted in reply to an open procedure, a restricted procedure or competitive dialogue were irregular or unacceptable. Only those tenderers were included in the negotiations which have satisfied the qualitative selection criteria.

Other justification for the award of the contract without prior publication of a contract notice in the OJEU:

k) The contract has as its object services listed in Annex B of Directive 2004/18/EC or in Annex XVII B of Directive 2004/17/EC

l) The contract falls outside the scope of application of the relevant directive.

In addition to the box(es) ticked above please explain in a clear and comprehensive manner why the award of the contract without prior publication of a contract notice in the OJEU is lawful, stating in any case the relevant facts, and, as appropriate, the conclusions of law in accordance with the articles in the relevant Directive (500 words maximum):

The award of a sub-contract to TIAA will be contingent upon a full transfer of all staff, assets and future liabilities of the South Coast Audit Consortium. The employees transferring will need to enjoy full protection of their current NHS terms and conditions via a TUPE transfer. TIAA will also be required to ensure that the employees will retain access to the NHS Pension Scheme or be offered a broadly equivalent pension.The transfer of employees may result in the NHS transferring redundancy liabilities of approximately 1.85m GBP. Whilst the current trading position is satisfactory, there is a significant amount of income at risk for the 2014/15 as a number of consortium members are exercising their right to tender, and a number of short term contracts are due to expire. The sub-contractor is required to minimise these risks and manage costs in the event of diminished income.The proposed sub-contract and employee transfer to TIAA is consistent with the Government objective of increasing employee participation in the leadership of organisations. TIAA's employees are given the opportunity to become shareholders in TIAA, and this opportunity will be extended to the transferring staff. Sussex Community NHS Trust considers these features important in allowing current South Coast Audit employees to have an element of self-determination and influence in the longer term.Whilst no significant profits are forecast in the short term, the agreement between TIAA and Sussex Community will provide for a profit share should any surplus be generated in the medium term. A senior member of Sussex Community's team has agreed to sit on TIAA's Board as a Non-Executive Director to oversee the profit share arrangements and ensure satisfactory delivery of sub contracted work.The NHS bodies entered into the contracts with Sussex Community NHS Trust on the basis that there was no potential for conflict of interest with other services that might be provided by the South Coast Audit Consortium. The range of services provided by South Coast Audit are such that in order to maintain the objectiveness and impartiality, the acquiring business must not currently be providing services other than internal audit, counter-fraud or security management to NHS organisations. TIAA has approached Sussex Community NHS Trust with an innovative solution that satisfies all of the above requirements, protects current staff and builds a viable and sustainable future. There is a short window of opportunity in advance of preparing to tender for work in the 2014/15 season. Given the urgency of the need to resolve South Coast Audit's hosting situation the TIAA proposal is deemed the best solution with a realistic chance of success.