CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE – OFFICIAL JOURNAL

Section I: Contracting Authority

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

Provision of a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system and on-going maintenance and support for the East of England Ambulance NHS Trust.

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

Norwich, Chelmsford and Bedford.

II.1.3)

This notice involves a framework agreement

II.1.4)

Short description of the contract or purchase(s)

The Trust is looking for an experienced CAD supplier with live deployments to provide CAD software across multiple sites using a single virtual CAD using the Trusts existing infrastructure/hardware.

Being within the public sector the Ambulance Service must be responsive and flexible, reacting to changes, for example, legislation, working practices and reporting.

Any solution and provider must be able to react to, support and match the organisations ability to respond urgently. Because there is a need to rapidly respond to change, the Trust will require the chosen Provider to offer and provide proactive, innovative and best value solutions.

The CAD is required to enable the Trust operational processes which include (but not limited to):

1. Manage 999 incidents;

2. Manage patient events through to resolution;

3. Manage resources associated with the patient event, for example, ambulance and clinical response;

4. Interface with existing technology, which includes (but not limited) to: telephony and Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs);

5. Manage performance and report on current Ambulance Quality Indicators as defined by the Department of Health.

The one virtual system will allow geographically separated Emergency Operations Centres (EOCs) to support each other if, for example, a significant spontaneous incident occurs within the Trust operating area, or if an EOC fails for any reason.

The Trust can then be assured that there will be extra resilience in the EOC architecture to provide an excellent service to the public in the Trust area utilising resources beyond artificial county boundaries.

Because the Trust is working within an economically challenging environment the investment in the solution and provider must have predictable pricing for the life of the solution, from implementation through to support and enhancement. The Trust will need to understand the Provider price drivers so future prices can be predicted. The Trust regularly reviews it service provision cost with other ambulance trusts to ensure it is offering value for money. The Provider will need to work with the Trust to ensure the services linked to the CAD are regularly reviewed to ensure efficiencies are realised. The chosen solution needs to be reliable with high levels of availability. There are significant financial implications for the Trust relating to non-performance. The Ambulance Service has a requirement to respond to the needs of the public which ranges from life threatening 999 emergency calls through to non-urgent patient transport. Any CAD has to be capable of operating 24 hours a day 365 days year to allow the correct clinical response to be made. Responding to the needs of the public and providing an excellent service is at the core of the Trust operations.

The Ambulance Service is a highly reactive environment with ever changing challenges. Because The Trust needs to respond quickly to the needs of patients, commissioning groups and customers, it must be confident the Provider will respond at the pace required by The Trust. The Trust is relying on the Provider to have a full understanding of operating within an NHS Ambulance Service environment, and understand the current issues and challenges we face. At present, the demands on our service are increasing whilst the financial environment is reflecting the current national economic challenges. As an ambulance service we are here to serve the community that pays for it.

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

15-T01

IV.3.2)

Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract

Other previous publications

Section V: Award of contract

Contract No:

V.1)

Date of contract award:

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

VI.3)

Procedures for appeal

VI.3.1)

Body responsible for appeal procedures

Body responsible for mediation procedures

VI.3.2)

Lodging of appeals

The East of England Ambulance NHS Trust will allow a standstill period at the point the decision regarding the award of the contract is communicated to tenderers. The standstill period shall be in accordance with Regulation 32A of the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 (as amended).

Part 9 of the Regulations provides for aggrieved parties who have been harmed or are at risk of harm by a breach of the Regulations to take legal action. Any such action must be started in the High Court within the applicable limitation period set out in Part 9.

The purpose of the standstill period referred to above is to allow aggrieved parties to apply to the Courts to set aside the award decision before the contract is entered into.

VI.3.3)

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

VI.4)

Dispatch date of this Notice