NHS England South (South East) - Kent & Sussex Community Immunisations Service for ages 0-19 Early Engagement

The NHS Commissioning Board, NHS England South (South East) is seeking Expressions of Interest from providers who have the expertise and capacity to deliver a programme of nationally scheduled school aged immunisations plus additional catch up opportunities for other childhood immunisations. This will be procured in two geographical lots: 1) Kent & Medway 2) Sussex (covering East Sussex, Brighton & Hove and West Sussex) The main aims of the services will be to: • Deliver uptake and coverage targets annually, to national standards, for each scheduled immunisation programme within school and community settings (4-19 year olds) • Improve on historic immunisation uptake in disadvantaged groups • Provide an effective solution for catch up opportunities for all childhood immunisation programmes (0-19 years), that contributes to increased uptake figures • Develop services to deliver additional national immunisation programmes that may be extended over the contract term (for example, Childhood Flu) • Use IT and technology innovatively to support the provision of information and the ease of response and uptake (e.g. electronic communications with parents, e-consent process, development of apps etc) • Provide support and help to co-ordinate additional immunisation activity in response to outbreaks and pandemic situations The school aged immunisation programmes to be provided by the service(s) are: • Meningococcal groups ACWY / Diphtheria, Tetanus and Polio • Childhood Seasonal Flu • Human Papilloma Virus In addition, catch up opportunities for these programmes, as well as all other childhood immunisations will be required as part of the service.

The geography of Kent & Medway has an eligible school age population of 146,479 (ONS, 2012). The geography of Sussex has an eligible school age population of 121,074 (ONS, 2012).

The re-procured services will be required to meet the needs of the national service specifications and deliver the service standards as a minimum. The procurement is expected to commence with an Invitation to Tender (ITT) in September/October 2017, for contract commencement on 1st August 2018.

It is anticipated that the contract will be let for five years. Full details of how to submit the questionnaire can be found at the end of this notice.

This notice is an information gathering exercise rather than a call for competition in its own right, and therefore publication or response does not commit NHS England or respondents to a future procurement, nor provide any process exemptions or preferential treatment to any parties expressing an interest. NHS England will not be liable for costs incurred by any interested party in participating in this exercise.

Additional information: Interested providers will be able to view the opportunity via the 'current tenders' list on In-Tend: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/scwcsu/aspx/Home In order to return the questionnaire, you will need to 'express an interest' and register on the system and then upload the completed questionnaire to the placeholder provided. The Services are healthcare services within the meaning and scope of Annex XIV of Directive 2014/24/EU ("the Directive") and Schedule 3 to the Public Contract Regulations 2015 ("the Regulations"), which are not subject to the full regime of the Regulations, but is instead governed by the "Light Touch Regime", (Articles 74 to 76 of the Directive, and Regulations 74 to 76 of the Regulations). For the avoidance of doubt, the Authority will not be bound by the Regulations or the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union or any other regulations or legislation except for the specific parts or circumstances that apply to the procurement of these Services.