Diabetic Eye Screening Programme (South West)

NHS England South West (the Commissioners) seeks to procure a Diabetic Eye Screening service for The South West. NHS England South West will be the contracting and commissioning authority for the Diabetic Eye Screening programme.

The aim of the Diabetic Eye Screening programme is to reduce the risk of sight loss amongst people with diabetes by the prompt identification and effective treatment if necessary of sight threatening diabetic retinopathy, at the appropriate stage during the disease process. This will be achieved by delivering evidence-based, population-based screening programmes.

The contract is due to commence on 1st April 2019 and run for four years, with the option to extend for a further one year, at the Commissioners' discretion. Interested parties who wish to take part in the procurement are invited to take part in an Invitation To Tender(ITT) process, based on the Open procedure and designed to identify the Most Economically Advantageous Tender and therefore determine the incoming provider.

Instructions for taking part can be found below. All ITT responses must be returned by 12 noon on 27th July 2018, at the latest.

A prior information/early engagement notice was published in relation to this procurement in April 2017, seeking expressions of interest. Please note that this previous notice was an information gathering exercise rather a call for competition in its own right.

Although those who responded to that notice will be advised that this contract notice has been published, there will be no process exemptions or preferential treatment afforded to any parties who expressed an interest at that stage. This procurement is being carried out by NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit (SCW) on behalf of the Commissioners.

Interested providers will be able to access the Invitation to Tender documents via the 'current tenders' list on thee-procurement portal (In-tend). https://in-tendhost.co.uk/scwcsu/aspx/Home In order to submit a bid, you will need to register on the e-procurement portal and 'express an interest' and then complete all necessary questions as specified within the documents. On registration, please include at least two contacts to allow for access to the portal in times of absence.

The services are healthcare services falling within Schedule 3 to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 ("the Regulations") which are not subject to the full regime of the Regulations, but is instead governed by the "Light Touch Regime" contained within Chapter 3, Section 7 of the Regulations (Regulations 74 to 77). The tendering process will be conducted in accordance with the requirements and flexibilities provided by Articles 74 to 76 of the Directive, and Regulations 74 to 76 of the Regulations. The Authority will run a transparent tender process, treating all Bidders equally.