Primary Care (GP) IT Service Management (ITSM)

This is a Contract Award Notice following publication of a voluntary ex ante transparency notice which expired at 12:00 midnight on the 3rd January 2023.which provided notice of NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board ("the ICB") intention to award a 24-month contract term, with the option to extend the contract for up to an additional 12-month period, for the provision of Primary Care (GP) IT Service Management and Primary Care Enabling Services for Primary Care, Pharmacists, Optometrists and Dentists (PODs) across Mid and South Essex.

Additional information: As previously noted in the Voluntary ex-ante transparency notice the national guidance confirms that Commissioning Support Units (CSU's) operate within the NHS family across England, providing services that have been independently evaluated for quality and value for money. The expectation is that CSU's will continue to develop as trusted delivery partners to ICS's, providing economies of scale.

Nationally NHS England have put in place a moratorium to protect core CSU services whilst clinical commissioning groups (CCG's) are dissolved and transition to ICB's. No definitive date has been given for when protection will end.

The ICB has concluded that there is an unacceptable risk associated with change of service provision whilst the system is in a significant state of transition and valuable resources must be focussed on ensuring Business as Usual (BAU) services and steady state across the new MSE ICB. The ICB deem that the incumbent provider is the only technically capable provider to deliver the services within the timescale and budget available.

MSE ICB have decided that the best solution to ensure that Primary Care users across Mid and South Essex benefit from Primary Care (GP) IT Service Management is to ensure continuity of service provision with the existing supplier, who is uniquely placed to successfully deliver GP IT Service Management in accordance with NHS England Moratorium and available timescales. As such, and following the publication of the VEAT will award a contract to AGEM CSU for the provision of Primary Care (GP) IT Service Management, service delivery commencing 1st July 2023 - to the 30th June 2025, with the option to extend by a further 12 months.

In accordance with Regulation 72(1) (a) of PCR 2020 as amended, the services covered by the arrangement may change and expand as the service develops in accordance with national guidelines and mandates in relation to operating principles for funding applications for Primary Care (GP) IT Service Management