Published date: 22 February 2024
Awarded contract - This means that the contract has been awarded to a supplier.
Contract summary
Industry
Paramedic vehicles - 34114120
Ambulances - 34114121
Patient-transport vehicles - 34114122
Health and social work services - 85000000
Location of contract
East Midlands
Value of contract
£68,041,353 to £92,405,333
Procurement reference
tender_311561/1103297
Published date
22 February 2024
Closing date
2 March 2023
Closing time
12pm
Contract start date
1 July 2024
Contract end date
30 June 2029
Contract type
Service contract
Procedure type
Open procedure (above threshold)
Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.
This procedure can be used for procurements above the relevant contract value threshold.
Contract is suitable for SMEs?
Yes
Contract is suitable for VCSEs?
Yes
Description
NHS Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland Integrated Care Board (LLR ICB) was seeking to commission a provider or providers to deliver their Patient Transport Services (PTS), to include Non-Emergency Patient Transport Service (NEPTS). The contract currently operating is due to expire on the 30th of June 2024.
The ICB wished to receive responses to the Invitation to Tenders (ITTs) from suitably qualified and experienced Providers with the necessary skill and experience (or a demonstrable ability to provide the skill and experience) to provide the range of services required.
The ICB has re-designed the way Patient Transport Services are specified in Leicestershire. They were looking for stand-alone services for specific cohorts of patients which have varying needs. To that end the re-procurement was split into 3 lots so 3 separate contracts could be awarded, however, bidders had the opportunity to bid for all of the lots or any combination of lots. For the avoidance of doubt each bid was scored on their individual merit. Therefore, it was possible that contracts could have been issued to a single provider.
The lots were split as follows:
Lot 1 Dedicated Renal Dialysis
The Provider is responsible for delivering a dedicated renal dialysis transport provision to all patients who require Dialysis & nocturnal Dialysis and are registered to an LLR GP.
Lot 2 TRIPPS
This service will provide High Dependency/Blue Light, Bariatric and End of Life out of University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) Emergency Departments (ED) and LLR Healthcare Settings to their destination.
Lot 3 NEPTS
The service will provide transport, where a medical condition means that a patient would struggle to safely attend their treatment independently, to LLR registered patients. This will include transport to and from outpatient appointments, discharges, admissions, non-High Dependency transfers, Community Mental Health appointments and therapy groups, including on the day activity and planned.
08/11/2022 - Amendment were made as follows: During the refresh data for Lots 1 and 3 the ICB requested a mini audit of the High Dependency activity that is expected to sit within Lot 2 - TRIPPS. The outcome of this demonstrated a shift in acuity of patients since the original data was published.
These changes have been reflected within the financial envelope thresholds and it had an impact of: Lot 2 - increase of £775,951 over years 1-5 over years 1-5 with the total impact combined for all lots over years 1-5 being an increase of £593,257 for the lower limit cost threshold and an increase of £775,591 for the upper limit cost threshold. For more information, bidders could consult revised Annexes 01 and 05 of the tender documentation.
More information
Previous notice about this procurement
PROVISION OF PATIENT TRANSPORT SERVICES (PTS) FOR THE LEICESTERSHIRE INTEGRATED BOARD (ICB)
- Opportunity
- Published 23 September 2022, last edited 8 November 2022
Additional text
-
Each contract was to be awarded for a term of five (5) years from the Service start date with the possibility of extending the term for up to another 5 years beyond the initial contracted term at the ICB's discretion.
The ICB has set higher and lower budgetary thresholds for each lot, as follows:
Full cost envelope (Higher Limit) £92,405,333
Full cost envelope (Lower Limit) £68,041,353
Any bid(s) received that were over or below the set thresholds were to be eliminated from the procurement.
These services are being treated as Schedule 3 services (healthcare services) and as such are being procured using the Light Touch Regime under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. An open type single stage procedure is being used which is proportionate to the complexity and value of these services.
The invitation to tender (ITT) was available from 23rd September 2022 on the ML CSU Bravo portal (see below) and had a deadline for submissions of 12:00 noon on 12th December 2022. Bidder clarifications could be submitted to the ICB (via the ML CSU Bravo portal only) during the procurement process between the 7th October and 17:00 25th November 2022.
Upon receipt of tenders, after the bid closure date had passed, and evaluation had commenced, an issue arose on the 15th of December 2022 by the finance evaluator that caused the ICB to reconsider their scoring methodology. The issue was that the pass/fail criteria in the financial stability ratios were found to be too stringent, given that provider accounts during the Covid period reflected atypical financial flows. After taking legal advice, the ICB decided to reopen the procurement on the 03rd of January 2023 for a further 8 weeks, with a revised scoring criteria that disapplied four of the original financial stability ratios. Reopening the tender ensured equal treatment to all providers, allowing any provider to submit a bid based on the new financial stability ratios, even if they may have declined to bid based on the original stability ratios. New bidders were then able to submit completed bids between 03rd of January and 02nd of March 2023; for those bidders who had submitted under the initial methodology, they also had the opportunity to review and resubmit their bids in the same timeline.
Award information
Awarded date
6 July 2023
Contract start date
1 July 2024
Contract end date
30 June 2029
Total value of contract
£90,827,087.10
This contract was awarded to 1 supplier.
ERS TRANSITION - TRADING AS EMED GROUP LIMITED
Address
1st Floor,Angels Wing 1, Whitehouse Street
LEEDS
West Yorkshire
LS10 1AD
GBReference
Companies House number: 10783395
Value of contract
£90,827,087.10
Supplier is SME?
No
Supplier is VCSE?
No
About the buyer
Contact name
NHS Leicester Leicestershire & Rutland ICB
Address
Room G30, Pen Lloyd Building, County Hall, Glenfield
Glenfield
LE3 8TB
England
Telephone
0121 611 0106
Website
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Closing: 2 March 2023, 12pm
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