Dental Electronic Referral System (DERS) across the South East

The Commissioners wished to seek a single provider to deliver DERS across the South East. The Crown Commercial Services (CCS) Framework RM6259 Vertical Application Solutions - Lot 2 'Education, Community Health and Social Care Solutions' was used to run a "further competition". A total of thirty-two providers are approved on the CCS framework agreement for Lot 2 and were contacted prior to the further competition ITT being published.

DERS is an end-to-end digital software system which is cloud-based. The service enables the patient journey from General Dental Services into specialist services and forms an essential part of the NHS dental system. DERS will ensure that referrals made by dentists, continue to be monitored and evaluated in line with Guidelines specifically, to:

• Provide clinicians with a single mechanism to refer patients that require specialist and specialised NHS dental services.
• Improve the quality of referrals in order to support effective triage.
• Enable patients to access care that is most suited to their needs.
• Improve the efficiency of the referral process.
• Provide accurate referral information to support clinical service evaluation and development.
• Achieve value for money.

Geography covered:

Hampshire & Isle of Wight

Frimley (Rushmoor, Hart, Bracknell Forest, Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead)

Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West

Dorset

Contract start date: 01/02/2025

Contract award date: 10/03/2025

Contract term: 2 years with an extension option for any period up to a further 2 years

Contract value (initial 2 year term): £1,374,400

Contract value (inclusive of 2 x extension years): £2,748,800

Following notification of the outcome of the procurement, the contracting authority observed a voluntary 10 day standstill period prior to awarding the contract.

This procurement has been carried out by NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit (SCW) on behalf of the Commissioners.

Additional information: The services are deemed to be subject to the full regime of procurement legislation and as such this tender was conducted in accordance with, and governed by, the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.