NHSE440 – Invitation to Tender - Dental Call Handling Service - Lancashire & South Cumbria

North of England Commissioning Support (NECS) is a commissioning support service hosted by NHS England and is managing this procurement process for the provision of a Dental Call Handling Service across Lancashire and South Cumbria for NHS England and NHS Improvement - North West (Lancashire & South Cumbria) (the Contracting Authority).

The Contracting Authority has procured a Dental Call Handling Service (DCHS) across Lancashire and South Cumbria to deliver a comprehensive service for patients to have a single point of access into NHS Dental Services and ensure that patients are appropriately signposted to NHS Primary Dental Care Services. The Contract is to commence 01 April 2022 for a contract term of 5 years.

The annual financial threshold for this procurement is 577800 GBP and is based on a calls answered volume of 180,000 per annum. The total contract value is 2889000 GBP for the 5-year contract term.

The Open Procedure was followed for this procurement to test the capacity, capability, and technical competence of bidders in accordance with Regulation 27 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended).

Tender documentation was available from 12:00 noon on 26 August 2021 and the closing time and date for tender returns was 12:00 noon on 27 September 2021.

The subject matter of the contract was scoped to take into account the priorities of the Contracting Authority relating to “economic, social, and environmental well-being” by utilising the UK Governments Social Value Model.

This procurement was conducted using an e-tendering portal (In-Tend). https://in-tendhost.co.uk/nhsnecsu/aspx/Home

The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (as amended) did apply. Bidders were advised to obtain their own legal advice and carry out due diligence including the New Fair Deal non-statutory policy setting out how pensions issues are to be dealt with when staff are compulsorily transferred from the public sector to independent providers delivering public services.

The Contracting Authority and NECS reserved the right to cancel the tender process at any point and will not be held liable for any costs resulting from any cancellation of the tender process or for any other costs incurred by those tendering for the contract.