Corneal Tissue

Concepts

• health and social work
• leeds
• corneal tissue supply
• corneal tissue
• corneal
• tissue
• specialist eye donation teams
• nhs england
• england
• non-recurrent investment

Location

NHS Blood and Transplant

Description

To increase corneal tissue supply and create a sustainable supply for the future to meet the clinical demand for this potentially sight saving surgery. NHS England has agreed a national contract and centralised budget for the supply of corneal tissue, including non-recurrent investment to enable NHSBT to expand specialist eye donation teams in England.

Total Quantity or Scope

Contract award for corneal tissue to NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) under the urgent circumstances provision - Regulation 14 (2), in line with the Provider Selection Regime (PSR): (a) an award or modification must be made urgently, (b) the reason for the urgency was not foreseeable by and not attributable to the relevant authority, and (c) delaying the award of the contract or modification to satisfy the requirements of regulations 6 to 13 would be likely to pose a risk to patient or public safety, For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 do not apply to this award. The annual contract value is approximately £8.8million and is variable depending on the volume supplied) and the lifetime value of the contract over the full (potential) 7 years is £43,000,000. The service start date is 1st April 2024 and the end date is 31st March 3031, assuming options to extend are taken up.

Award Detail

Renewal Options

There is an option to extend the initial 5 year contract period by an additional 2 years

Award Criteria

CPV Codes

• 85000000 - Health and social work services

Indicators

• Options are available.
• Award on basis of price.

Legal Justification

This contract is awarded under the urgent circumstances provision - Regulation 14 (2): (a) an award or modification must be made urgently, (b) the reason for the urgency was not foreseeable by and not attributable to the relevant authority, and (c) delaying the award of the contract or modification to satisfy the requirements of regulations 6 to 13 would be likely to pose a risk to patient or public safety, For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 do not apply to this award

Other Information

This contract has been awarded under the urgent circumstances provision of the Provider Selection Regime (PSR). This contract has been awarded under the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 do not apply to this award. An award under urgent circumstance was necessary due to the need for NHSBT to make urgent changes to increase the supply of corneal tissue. A delay in the award of this contract would likely result in continued tissue shortage and resulting excess patient waits for access to potentially sight saving surgery. This urgent circumstance award means that investment plans can be built in to a contract for the required increase corneal tissue supply and that the required financial adjustments could be made within ICB allocations. The contract length is greater than 12 months as the requirement to increase corneal supply extends beyond a year given the lead in time to establish the eye retrieval services and current clinical demand / donated tissue supply. The contract also facilitates national strategic planning between NHS England and NHSBT for the provision of corneal tissue. The decision was approved on 26th March 2024 by the Delegated Commissioning Group (DCG). No conflicts of interest were identified.