Mid and South Essex Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services (NEPTS)

Concepts

• health services
• nepts
• chelmsford
• basildon
• southend on sea
• epping
• grays
• rayleigh
• south essex clinical commissioning group
• nhs west essex ccg

Location

The Service will primarily be delivered within Essex and surrounding areas and for patients registered with NHS West Essex CCG in relation to journeys to/from the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre

Description

The mid and south Essex Clinical Commissioning Group's are looking for a capable provider to deliver a single contract for the delivery of Non-Emergency Patient Transport Services (NEPTS) for the population of mid and south Essex, for all land-based provision (across all ages) with the exception of secure mental health transport. In addition, the service will be provided to patients registered with NHS West Essex CCG in relation to journeys to/from the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre. Further information can be found at sections II.2.4 and VI.3.

Total Quantity or Scope

The Contracting Authorities (hereinafter referred to as "the Authority") for this procurement are: NHS Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (as Coordinating Commissioner), NHS Basildon & Brentwood Clinical Commissioning Group, NHS Castle Point and Rochford Clinical Commissioning Group, NHS Southend Clinical Commissioning Group, NHS Thurrock Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS West Essex Clinical Commissioning Group. The Authority is looking for a capable provider to deliver a single contract for the delivery of Non-Emergency Patient Transport Service (NEPTS) for the population of mid and south Essex (MSE), for all land-based provision (across all ages) with the exception of secure mental health transport. … The NEPTS will encompass: • Booking & Eligibility Assessment; • Transportation of patients; and • On Site support at local NHS Acute Trust sites. Lotting this service was deemed inappropriate as it would result in unnecessary fragmentation and complexities. The Service will primarily be delivered within Essex and surrounding areas. Journeys will also be delivered outside of the local area as a consequence of patient choice, where specialist care is required or for repatriation. During 2019/20, approximately 178,000 journeys were undertaken across the in-scope NEPTS provision. Although there are no current plans in place that will change the expected activity levels for the in-scope provision, the proposed contract model will provide flexibility for any fundamental changes in activity to be adjusted for within the term of the contract. NEPTS are a key enabler underpinning access to elective care and supporting timely and efficient discharge processes for acute and community providers. As a partner within the system, the NEPTS provider for MSE will support improvements in the latter stages of urgent and emergency care pathways and continue to enable patient choice and equitable access for elective care. The service provider will be involved with a range of service developments including the consideration of additional low level/low risk journeys from within the 999 contract to the patient transport service (for example 'GP Urgents'). The provider will work with the Commissioners to explore the development of a technological solution to deliver active communication with patients and healthcare professionals. The Authority wishes to proceed with a one stage procurement to establish a single supplier across mid and south Essex, and NHS West Essex CCG for journeys to/from the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre, with service commencement 1st April 2022. Further information also provided in section VI.3. Additional information: Please see section VI.3

Renewal Options

Option to extend for up to an additional two years after the initial 5 year term

CPV Codes

• 85100000 - Health services

Indicators

• This is a one-off contract (no recurrence)
• Renewals are available.
• Financial restrictions apply.
• Professional qualifications are sought.
• Technical restrictions apply.

Other Information

** PREVIEW NOTICE, please check Find a Tender for full details. ** Attain is conducting this procurement process as agent for and on behalf of the Authority. To access the procurement documentation, please go to the Bravo website at: https://attain.bravosolution.co.uk and click on 'Register here' and follow the on-screen instructions. You can access the 'itt_66 - Mid and South Essex Non-Emergency Patient Transport Service (NEPTS)' by clicking on the link called 'View current opportunities' on the Home Page. Please note that the tender will not be accepted by any means other than through the Bravo e-Procurement Portal. The Contract will be for a term of 60 months (five years), with the possibility of extending the term for a period of 24 additional months (two years) beyond the initial contracted duration by agreement between the Authority and the Bidder. The cumulative aggregate contract value including all extensions, anticipated variations, growth and inflation as advertised in the Find a Tender Service Contract Notice is £73,150,000. Price scoring will be undertaken on Bidders Price for the first five years of the contract only. Commissioners will accept total bids up to £40,800,000 over the full 5 years contract term. This figure acts as a total affordability envelope for this procurement for the purposes of bidding. Any bids received in excess of such affordability envelope will be rejected as non-compliant. In such instances you will be excluded from the procurement process and will not be awarded a contract. The contract model for the NEPTS is a block, no additional costs above the bid price will be rechargeable to the Authority. Tolerance levels of 5% will be applied to the contract, which will be monitored on a mobility level, with adjustment to the block being considered when activity goes above tolerance levels. Further information is available within the procurement documents. The Services to which this Procurement relates fall within Schedule 3 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended The Public Procurement (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020). As such, the procurement of the Services is being run as a bespoke, single stage application process akin to the Open procedure, involving a number of stages which are outlined within the suite of procurement documents. The Authority does not intend to hold itself bound by any of the Regulations, save those applicable to Schedule 3 Services. The Authority may wish to introduce additional services during the lifetime of the contract ("Contract modifications"). Such contract modifications will be contemplated where additional requirements are similar and or complementary to the services already included in the Specification, at any given time. Such expansion would be by the addition of services commissioned by the Authority as named in the Contract Notice. To this end, the Bidder should be aware that after the award of contract, there is a possibility that the successful Bidder may be offered a variation to the contract to include (but not be limited to) reduction of activity and removal of funding for Personal Health Budgets and/or an increase in additional low level/low risk journeys where activity may be transferred from the 999 contract to the patient transport service (for example 'GP Urgents' services) in accordance with Regulation 72 (1) (a) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended The Public Procurement (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020).