Provision of Integrated Urgent Care Service in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

Description

The ICB is committed to the provision of a high-quality IUC by offering the following services:<br/>• NHS 111 call handling,<br/>• 24/7 Clinical Assessment Service (CAS),<br/>• Out of Hours Primary Care Access.<br/>• These may be delivered through a single provider model or a lead provider model.<br/>• The IUC service(s) will meet the values, rights, obligations and expectations of patients as set out in the NHS Constitution. Lot 1: NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care Board (C&P ICB) is seeking to commission a provider or providers to deliver Integrated Urgent Care in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The contract currently operating is due to expire on the 30th of September 2025.<br/><br/>The service is being commissioned via a Competitive Process conducted in line with the Healthcare Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023 which is proportionate to the value and complexity of the service and contract. The Provider Selection Regime applies under common procurement vocabulary (CPV) 85100000-0 (Health Services).<br/><br/>The ICB wishes to receive responses to the Invitation to Tenders (ITTs) from suitably qualified and experienced Providers with the necessary skill and experience (or a demonstrable ability to provide the skill and experience) to provide the range of services required.<br/><br/><br/>The ICB is committed to the provision of a high-quality IUC by offering the following services:<br/>• NHS 111 call handling,<br/>• 24/7 Clinical Assessment Service (CAS),<br/>• Out of Hours Primary Care Access.<br/>• These may be delivered through a single provider model or a lead provider model.<br/>• The IUC service(s) will meet the values, rights, obligations and expectations of patients as set out in the NHS Constitution.<br/><br/>Aims and objectives of the service:<br/><br/>The IUC service is required to be sustainable, based on a service model that is clinically and commercially robust, that can attract and retain suitably qualified competent practitioners, which can be integrated with other services. The service will meet both the National Integrated Urgent Care Specification and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Urgent Care Specification to deliver a flexible service that can transform to meet the local and national requirements, to a high standard. <br/><br/>NHS 111 call handling: this IUC service shall be provided using the components of telephony via NHS 111 24/7, 365/6 days a year. The telephony service will deliver a ‘consult and complete’ model of care via the provision of health advice, based on algorithmic clinical assessment.<br/><br/>24/7 Clinical Assessment Service, (CAS): the CAS will provide clinical assessment to patients who require further clinical validation and clinical assessments, this includes for 111 and 999 high acuity disposition validations from the NHS111 call handling function, Primary Care Dispositions and direct booking validations. The CAS will direct patients to the appropriate healthcare, direct booking or referrals, be the Trusted Assessor, work closely with the ICS Unscheduled Community Care Co-ordination Hub (or equivalent) and Same Day Emergency Care Services, to support patients being cared for by the most appropriate service, only attending ED or dispatching an ambulance, when appropriate.<br/><br/>Out of Hours Primary Care Access: During the Out of Hours periods, a Primary Care level service that provides clinical telephony assessments, operating within the CAS, and face to face consultation to treat all registered and temporarily resident patients and those visitors calling NHS 111. For more detail, consult the service specification in the tender documentation.<br/><br/>The contract is anticipated to start on the 1st of October 2025 for 3 years with the possibility to extend at the ICB’s discretion for up to a further 2 years. The lifetime contract value including extensions is up to a maximum of £107m. The contractual payment terms will be based on cost and volume, with a cap and collar and marginal rate applied outside of the cap and collar.<br/><br/>The ICB has set higher and lower budgetary thresholds for each lot, as follows: full cost envelope higher limit years (including extensions) is - years 1-5 is £107,221,864.00 and the lower limit for the full cost envelope years 1-5 of £64,076,388.00; bidders are required to work within these financial budgetary thresholds, failure to do so will result in a non-compliant bid and automatic elimination as a potential bidder in the Basic Selection Criteria stage assessment. <br/><br/>The invitation to tender (ITT) will be available from 02nd of October 2024 on the ML CSU Atamis portal (see below) and it will have a deadline for submissions of 12:00 noon on 15th of November 2024. <br/><br/>Bidder clarification questions may be submitted to the Commissioner (via the ML CSU Atamis portal only) during the procurement process between 14th of October 2024 and up to 17:00 hours on the 06th of November 2024.<br/><br/>We recommend current providers of similar services, providers who may be interested in providing this service, or other stakeholders who may have an interest in providing this to register on the MLCSU Atamis portal to register their interest and get access to the ITT and all the related procurement documentation. Additional information: To register on Atamis<br/>If you have not accessed with the portal before you will need to click Register from the landing page and complete the required form.<br/>1) Register on the portal webpage https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome (registration and use of the website is free of charge).<br/>2) Once registered, to search for tendering opportunities that have been published by the buying organisation, click Find Opportunities.<br/>3) From the Find Opportunities page, click on the title of an opportunity. If the tendering project is at the stage where it is open for suppliers to express interest, you will be able to click Register Interest. For this project the contract reference on Atamis is C308353.<br/>For technical support in submitting your Expression of Interest or registering on the ‘Atamis Electronic Sourcing system please contact the Atamis helpdesk via email: support@atamis.co.uk.<br/><br/>All communications from providers should come through the Atamis portal. Strictly no other forms of communication to MLCSU or the Commissioner will be accepted (including telephone calls, postal queries/submissions, faxes or email communications) during this period.<br/><br/><br/>Provider Selection Regime<br/><br/><br/>This notice is issued subject to Provider Selection Regime regulations. Please note that any subsequent contract emanating from this notice will be subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 will not apply to any future award.<br/><br/>Right to Cancel<br/>The contracting authority reserves the right to discontinue the procurement process at any time, which shall include the right not to award a contract or contracts and does not bind itself to accept the lowest tender, or any tender received, and reserves the right to award a contract in part, or to call for new tenders should it consider this necessary. The contracting authority shall not be liable for any costs or expenses incurred by any candidate or tenderer in connection with the completion and return of the information requested in this Contract Notice, or in the completion or submission of any tender, irrespective of the outcome of the competition or if the competition is cancelled or postponed. All dates, time periods and values specified in this notice are provisional and the contracting authority reserves the right to change these.<br/><br/>Transparency<br/>The contracting authority is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) and may be required to disclose information received in the course of this procurement under FOIA or the EIR. In addition, and in accordance with the UK Government's policies on transparency, the contracting authority intends to publish procurement documentation and the text of any resulting contractual arrangements, subject to possible redactions at the discretion of the contracting authority. Any redactions, whether in relation to information requests under FOIA, the EIR or policies on transparency will be in accordance with those grounds prescribed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. Further information on transparency can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement- and-contracting-transparency-requirements-guidance