Official UK procurement notice
PRIME Service to General Practice across Suffolk and North East Essex
Authority: NHS SUFFOLK AND NORTH EAST ESSEX INTEGRATED CARE BOARD (NHS & healthcare)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board has made a decision to award a contract to GP Primary Choice Ltd , for the provision of a PRIME Service to General Practice across Suffolk and North East Essex.
The contract commences on 1st April 2024, expiring on 31st March 2025.
A voluntary ex ante transparency notice relating to this matter was published on 28th December 2023.
CPV: Office-support services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1NHS Suffolk and North East Essex (SNEE) Integrated Care Board (ICB) has awarded a…Awarded
NHS Suffolk and North East Essex (SNEE) Integrated Care Board (ICB) has awarded a contract to contract to GP Primary Choice Ltd , for the provision of a PRIME Service to General Practice across Suffolk and North East Essex.
The contract commences on 1st April 2024, expiring on 31st March 2025.
A voluntary ex ante transparency notice relating to this matter was published on 28th December 2023 (Notice reference: 2023/S 000-037971), the standstill for which expired midnight on 8th January 2023.
The incumbent provider (GP Primary Choice Ltd) has successfully delivered this service for the past 12 months and has the knowledge, expertise and experience from close working partnerships with General Practice partners that is difficult to develop in a short space of time from any other provider.
This service retains in depth knowledge of the Practices it serves and embedded and trusted relationships with multiple partners, particularly in General Practice teams such as Practice Managers and Practice partners.. The current service provider has become known with local providers and has extremely positive feedback from all partners, which has taken considerable time and effort to obtain. Introducing a new provider risks disrupting these vital links, which would set back the service offer and increase the risks faced by General Practice.
It is well known that mistrust of services within this sector is apparent, hence relationship building has been a key requirement of this service throughout the course of the original pilot. GPPC has worked to develop relationships which support and enable access to key Practice data that assists in the identification and delivery of key quality improvement opportunities within Practices for the benefit of both the Practice and the population. It is believed that introducing a different organisation with different branding to deliver this service would significantly impact the ability to effectively engage with General Practice, due to the need to establish trust with individuals.
The service has experienced and trained staff in place that have worked locally within General Practice and developed that trust with General Practice teams which can flex to the needs of the Practices to maintain best practice throughout the length of the contract.
The ICB deem that changing providers at a time where General Practice are under increasing pressure and facing ever increasing challenges, would have an adverse impact on service delivery for the population that it serves. The ICB is therefore seeking to re-commission the current provider to continue its service delivery for the short duration of the 12 month contract to provide stability in a fragile environment.
The ICB will award the contract utilising the NHS terms and conditions of goods and non-clinical services.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- 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
- 28 Dec 2023, 14:29 GMT
- Last source update
- 9 Jan 2024, 09:08 GMT
- Authority reference
ACE-0715-2023- FTS notice number
2024/S 000-000590- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0429f5Find a Tender
- Why no open competition
- The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive
- Published justification
The incumbent provider (GP Primary Choice Ltd) has successfully delivered this service for the past 12 months and has the knowledge, expertise and experience from close working partnerships with General Practice partners that is difficult to develop in a short space of time from any other provider.
This service retains in depth knowledge of the Practices it serves and embedded and trusted relationships with multiple partners, particularly in General Practice teams such as Practice Managers and Practice partners.. The current service provider has become known with local providers and has extremely positive feedback from all partners, which has taken considerable time and effort to obtain. Introducing a new provider risks disrupting these vital links, which would set back the service offer and increase the risks faced by General Practice.
It is well known that mistrust of services within this sector is apparent, hence relationship building has been a key requirement of this service throughout the course of the original pilot. GPPC has worked to develop relationships which support and enable access to key Practice data that assists in the identification and delivery of key quality improvement opportunities within Practices for the benefit of both the Practice and the population. It is believed that introducing a different organisation with different branding to deliver this service would significantly impact the ability to effectively engage with General Practice, due to the need to establish trust with individuals.
The service has experienced and trained staff in place that have worked locally within General Practice and developed that trust with General Practice teams which can flex to the needs of the Practices to maintain best practice throughout the length of the contract.
The ICB deem that changing providers at a time where General Practice are under increasing pressure and facing ever increasing challenges, would have an adverse impact on service delivery for the population that it serves. The ICB is therefore seeking to re-commission the current provider to continue its service delivery for the short duration of the 12 month contract to provide stability in a fragile environment.
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| GP PRIMARY CHOICE LIMITEDSME | £119,453 †same award published again · counted once | — | Awarded |
| GP PRIMARY CHOICE LIMITEDSMEPRIME TeamSubcontracting: declared | £119,453 † | — | Awarded |
Contracts
PRIME Service to General Practice across Suffolk and North East Essex · GP PRIMARY CHOICE LIMITEDSME
- Signed
- 21 Dec 2023
- Value
- £119,453
- Status
- active
PRIME Team · GP PRIMARY CHOICE LIMITEDSME
- Signed
- 21 Dec 2023
- Value
- £119,453
- Status
- active
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1bids | — | — | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Dispute resolution & review bodies
- High Court of Justice of England and WalesReview body
- The Royal Courts of JusticeMediation bodyReview body
Bidders & participating suppliers
2 commercial parties on the notice- GP Primary Choice LtdAwarded supplier
- GP Primary Choice LtdAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.