Unified Communications and Data Managed Service

This Contracts Finder Notice is supporting the following Prior Information Notice (PIN) reference 2017/S 072 - 137101. Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB), which is run by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB), is recognised as one of the leading hospitals in Europe and has an international reputation for quality of care, informatics/IT, clinical training and research.

QEHB provides direct clinical services to nearly one million patients every year, serving a regional, national and international population. It is a regional centre for cancer, trauma, renal dialysis, burns and plastics, and has the largest solid organ transplantation programme in Europe.

UHB has the largest kidney programme in the UK, is a major specialist centre for burns and plastic surgery, and neurosciences, and has a specialist cancer centre. The ICT network that provides the infrastructure that supports access to all of UHB's software applications, data services and telephone systems has been provided since the 1 December 2006 as an outsourced managed service via our PFI contract.

The PFI arrangements for the ICT network ends in January 2019 and the purpose of the proposed tendering process is to put in place new contractual arrangements. A stable and well-managed network is paramount in the delivery of high quality care to our patients and to maintaining UHB's reputation as a leader in technology.

UHB requires a resilient service for each layer of the network, covering support of hardware and software, configuration management and performance reporting. UHB's intention is to award contract(s) for an initial period of five years with an option to extend the contract(s) for two further 12 month periods.

Prior to any future procurement process, UHB wishes to engage with interested providers to seek views on the requirement, on the viability, and on possible delivery options and give them an opportunity to ask questions and seek clarification where necessary. Accordingly, potential providers are invited to a Supplier Information Event to be held on the afternoon of Monday 24th April 2017.

The event will be held at Regent Court, George Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 1NU. There will be presentations and questions between 13:00 and 16:00.

Service Providers interested in attending the Supplier Information Event should register in accordance with the instructions below. Additional information: How to register Register your company on the eSourcing portal (this is only required once) - Browse to the eSourcing Portal: https://nhs.bravosolution.co.uk/nhs_collaborative/web/log... and click the link to register - Accept the terms and conditions and click 'continue' - Enter your correct business and user details - Note the username you chose and click 'Save' when complete - You will shortly receive an email with your unique password (please keep this secure); 2.

Express an Interest in the Tender - Login to the portal with the username/password - Click the 'PQQs / ITTs Open to All Suppliers' link. (These are Pre-Qualification Questionnaires or Invitations to Tender open to any registered supplier) - Browse the PQQs (there may be more than one page) and select 'pqq_28404' by clicking on it. - Click the 'Express Interest' button at the top of the page - This will move the PQQ /ITT into your 'My PQQs/ My ITTs' page.

(This is a secure area reserved for your projects only) - You can now access any attachments by clicking 'Buyer Attachments' in the 'PQQ/ ITT Details' box; 3. Responding to the Tender - Click 'My Response' under 'PQQ/ ITT Details', you can choose to 'Create Response' or to 'Decline to Respond' (please give a reason if declining) - You can now use the 'Messages' function to communicate with the buyer and seek any clarification - Note the deadline for completion, then follow the on-screen instructions to complete the PQQ/ ITT - There may be a mixture of online and offline actions for you to perform (there is detailed online help available).

You must then submit your reply using the 'Submit Response' button at the top of the page. If you require any further assistance please consult the online help, or contact the eTendering help desk.

Please note this is purely a market engagement exercise and any subsequent procurement will be advertised separately and all organisations wanting to participate will need to respond to the procurement advertisement as and when published. Please note that THIS IS NOT A PQQ and does not represent the commencement of the procurement process, we are using this functionality within the Bravo portal to communicate with interested parties.

Joint Procurement Following agreement by the respective Trust Boards, UHB and the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust (HoEFT) are currently working on a business case to decide on the best way to create one legal entity, either through acquisition or merger. Accordingly, UHB is considering undertaking a joint procurement exercise with HoEFT for the services that are the subject of this notice, although this is subject to final approval by the respective Trust Boards. HoEFT operates from mainly three sites: Good Hope, Heartlands and Solihull.