Contract for the provision of Histopathology reporting, Urology and Breast MDT

CPV: Pathology services

Procedure method

Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition

Legal basis

CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)

Procurement category

Services

Notice status

Awarded without competition

Procurement threshold

Unspecified in notice

Regulatory regime

Standard

Commercial structure

Stand-alone contract (no framework)

Competition type

Direct award (no call for competition)

GPA / WTO covered

Unspecified in notice

Recurring procurement

Unspecified in notice

First published

10 Jul 2023, 08:54 BST

Last source update

10 Jul 2023, 08:54 BST

FTS notice number

2023/S 000-019565

Classification (CPV)

Pathology services

Delivery area

UK

Official registry OCID

ocds-h6vhtk-03e01b Find a Tender

Why no open competition

The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive

Published justification

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (GWH) intends to award a contract under Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii), to Poundbury Cancer Institute (PCI) in respect of Histopathology reporting, Urology and Breast MDT, for a period of one year, with an option to extend for a further period of one year. This to maintain continuation of service delivery while the separate contract end dates for this requirement at GWH and Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust (SFT) are aligned and the collaborative requirement is re-tendered as a BSW Procurement Alliance collaborative contract, to ensure greater efficiency when procuring services. PCI is the incumbent supplier and the new contract will ensure that the current service is maintained until the re-tender is complete, without risk to patient care or the accumulation of cost and resource pressures. To award another supplier a temporary arrangement of this nature may result in the following:<br/><br/>Trust Turnaround Times and Patient Care: Variations in turnaround while new systems are set up. Currently PCI routes for reporting are established and consistent. Risking this could lead to increased Turnaround and delays to the diagnosis, and in turn treatment, of patients within the Trust <br/><br/>Packaging and Transport: new routes of transport for slides and blocks have to be set up. This will add extra pressure to the departments' sendaways team. Packaging requirements may also vary, leading to additional costs of purchase, and increased time to carry out alternative packaging requirements. <br/><br/>IT and Report Transcription: The reporting of cases by PCI is an established process, and the departments secretarial staff are familiar with the process of transcribing the received reports onto the LIMS. A new provider could lead to additional reporting processes, or access may be required to additional external IT systems, increasing the workload of the secretaries. <br/><br/>Additional Testing Requirements: A new provider may wish to introduce new tests (such as Immunohistochemical markers) not routinely performed within the department. This will increase the cost as these may have to be outsourced or will have to be worked up and verified in house, adding to the department's workload. Currently the requirements of PCI are known to the department and requesting additional work is an established process. <br/><br/>Documentation: Changing provider will result in numerous document updates that will add to the department's ongoing quality work. <br/><br/>Accreditation: UKAS, would have to be informed of any changes in provider, and any tests that they require that are not on our schedule would have to be reported as unaccredited tests.<br/><br/>GWH has reviewed the factors described and considers that for the technical reasons listed, awarding PCI is the only reasonable solution as it mitigates the risk of a detrimental effect on the service and the accumulation of preventable cost and resource pressures until the re-tender of the collaborative contract across the two Trusts. GWH will observe a 10 day standstill from the date of this notice before entering into a contract with Poundbury Cancer Institute (PCI).

• POUNDBURY CANCER CENTRE LTDAwarded supplier Newborough House 3 Queen Mother Square, Dorchester, South West, DT1 3BJ

No document links were published on the notice.