Expansion or provision of new general practitioner medical surgery and associated facilities serving the residents of the Ashingdon Road development, Rochford (SS4)

This Intended Approach Notice to follow the Most Suitable Provider Process, pursuant to The Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023 (the Regulations). The Contracting Authority, NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board (the Authority) is using the most suitable provider process (the Process) as defined by Regulations 6(6) and 10) to award a Land Option (“the Contract”) via a mixed procurement (commencing 25th March 2025), for the development and delivery of a General Practitioner Medical Surgery and associated facilities and services under a General Medical Services (GMS) contract (the Requirement).

The opportunity is deemed to comprise a mixture of in-scope health care services and out-of-scope non-healthcare services. The main subject-matter of the contract is deemed an in-scope health care service because the estimated lifetime value of the health care services being delivered under the MSPs existing GMS contract is higher than the value of the one-off sum associated with the Land Option and associated capital works (non-healthcare services).

The Authority is of the view that separating out the process around selecting an appropriate GP Practice to award the Land Option to, from the selection of a GP Practice to deliver general medical services from the healthcare premises developed on the land would have a materially adverse impact on the Authority’s ability to act in accordance with the procurement principles. Further details of the Authorities assessment leading to the decision to undertake a mixed procurement under PSR can be found in detail at the attached document titled Supplementary Information for the PIN _ Ashingdon Road 04.03.

For avoidance of doubt, this Process will not result in the Authority and the most suitable provider (MSP) entering into a new contract. The Authority is responsible for running the Process as the legal entity responsible for commissioning Primary Medical Services in Mid and South Essex.

The Authority and existing GP Practices that have expressed an initial interest in being considered as the MSP are already within contractual arrangements via each Practice’s existing GMS. Instead, the Process intends to identify and award the opportunity to enter a Land Option with Bloor Homes and Rochford District Council.

The Authority is expecting the council/developer to transfer the land directly to the MSP following the successful conclusion of this exercise. The MSP will be responsible for working with the council to develop the site for delivery under their existing GMS contract.

Further work will be needed as the site develops to amend the MSP's existing contract to reflect any proposed plans (for example, whether it is an additional branch site or a relocation). The development has made a financial contribution of £262,300 available to the MSP that purchases the land, to support the improvement of healthcare services in Rochford, which is the value that has been communicate in this Notice as the estimated total value.

The MSP will be required to source the necessary capital to implement the requirement through solutions such as partnering with a specialist healthcare facility developer or some form of borrowings. No further capital resource is available through the NHS to support build costs.

The estimated lifetime value of the Land Option may be between £3.75m and £5.25m based on an NHS compliant build costing in the region of £5,000-7,000 per square metre. The planning permission shows the land could accommodate a healthcare building of 750m2 plus on-site parking.

The estimated lifetime value of the existing GMS/PMS contract could be between £26m and £99m depending on which Practice is selected (because it is based on the global annual sum of their existing contract and a 45-year contract duration). Under a Section 106 Agreement, Rochford District Council and the developer Bloor Homes have made available an opportunity via a land option (expiring November 2025) and a financial contribution of £262,300, for a local healthcare provider to purchase land at Ashingdon Road for the provision of capital projects to expand existing or provide new general practitioner medical surgery/surgeries and associated facilities that serve or will serve the residents of the Development.

This could be to either relocate existing services or develop a branch surgery premises subject to following appropriate contractual processes for any proposed relocation, including any necessary public engagement as well as compliance with relevant ICB and NHSE governance. The land available can accommodate a healthcare building of 750m2 plus on-site parking.

No further capital resources are available through the NHS to support any build costs. The Authority received authorisation through its Executive Committee in July 24, to identify the Most Suitable Provider (MSP) to take forward this opportunity.

In applying the MSP process, the Authority has considered the five Key Criteria and undertaken appropriate pre-market engagement to update its knowledge of relevant providers including understanding their ability to deliver the Requirement to the relevant local population and connections with other parts of the system. Expressions of interest were sought by the Authority from GP Practices in two Primary Care Networks (PCN), Rayleigh & District, and Rochford.

Four Practices have confirmed provisional interest. The Authority is of the view, taking into account the likely providers, the restrictions placed upon it via the Section 106 and all relevant information available to it at this time, that it is likely to be able to identify the MSP without running a competitive process.

To satisfy the Regulations, the Authority intends to undertake appropriate due diligence to assess the MSP in accordance with Regulation 19 (Basic Selection Criteria) and Regulation 20 (Exclusions) and with reference to the Key Criteria (Regulation 5), ensuring the most suitable provider has the legal and financial capacities and the technical and professional abilities to deliver the Requirement over the term. Additionally, the Authority may hold a structured dialogue session(s) with the MSP to further assess the MSP against the Key Criteria.

As a result of a successful conclusion to such assessment and process, the Authority intends to make a decision to award the proposed Land Option to the MSP. Further details can be found at sections II.2.4) , II.2.14) and VI.3).

Additional information: This is a Provider Selection Regime (PSR) intended approach notice. The awarding of this contract is subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023.

For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 do not apply. The award decision-maker for this process is NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB).