Expressions of Interest for the Provision of Community Dental Services across the West Midlands

Description

*This is a Prior Information Notice*<br/><br/>NHS Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit (AGCSU) and NHS Birmingham & Solihull ICB on behalf of five Integrated Care Boards in the West Midlands Commissioning team (The Commissioners) would like to notify the market of a potential upcoming opportunity to provide Community Dental Services across the West Midlands. <br/><br/>The Five (5) West Midlands Integrated Care Boards and individual Contracting Authorities are (respective NUTS codes in brackets for your information are:<br/>1. NHS Birmingham and Solihull (UKG31 and UKG32)<br/>2. NHS Black Country ICB (UKG36, UKG37, UKG38 & UKG39)<br/>3. NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICB (UKG 11 & UKG12)<br/>4. NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICB (UKG21 & UKG22)<br/>5. NHS Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent ICB (UKG23 & UKG24)<br/><br/>All interested providers are invited to participate in an early market assessment questionnaire which will be used as a conduit to ascertain market capability and interest in the opportunity and help determine the appropriate way forward and to help inform the commissioners on which procurement process to carry out.<br/><br/>Please note this PIN closes 12:00PM (Mid-day) on Friday 14th November 2025. Lot 1: This notice is purely for providers to express an interest in the opportunity to provide Community Dental Services across the West Midlands. <br/><br/>The West Midlands area consists currently of six ICBs, BSOL, BC, CW, HW, SSOT, STW. The Office of the West Midlands. hosted by BSOL ICB, commission Community Dental Services on behalf of all six ICBs. Existing contracts in 5 of the 6 ICBs are due to end on the 31st March 2026.<br/><br/>Recent proposed reorganisation within the NHS means that going forward services are likely to be commissioned under cluster arrangements with three new clusters. BSOL and BC, CW and HW, SSOT and STW. <br/><br/>For three of the West Midlands ICBs there is currently a single provider for Community Dental Services within the ICB area. Coventry and Warwickshire have an existing incumbent provider and are not part of this market engagement. For SSOT and STW there is currently a single community trust providing services within each geography. It is unclear at this stage of the effect of clustering. There are currently two CDS providers within each of the remaining three ICBs. For HW there are currently two providers covering Herefordshire and Worcestershire and any review is unlikely to be affected by clustering due to the existing contract within the other ICB (CW). For BSOL and BC each ICB currently has two providers although one provider works across both areas. BSOL and BC ICBs are jointly reviewing current arrangements.<br/><br/>Proposed/sample specifications are attached within the project on Atamis - see section VI.3 for Atamis Project instructions.<br/><br/>The services will comply with relevant regulations and statutory instruments including:<br/>• The National Health Service (Personal Dental Services Agreements) Regulations 2005<br/>• The National Health Service (Dental Charges) Regulations 2005<br/>• The Mental Capacity Act 2005<br/><br/>The service will comply with any new national policy and guidance as it is issued.<br/><br/>The service will comply with local policies, procedures and guidelines developed collaboratively through the Local Dental Network (LDN) and any relevant Managed Clinical Networks (MCNs) as these succeed and build on extant policies of the predecessor organisation, including:<br/><br/>• Local oral health strategies and oral health promotion strategies or the equivalent<br/><br/>• NHS commissioning strategies for primary care and specialist services or the equivalent<br/><br/>• Local dental referral protocols<br/><br/>The service will also meet the requirements of the Care Quality Commission.<br/><br/>Please note the deadline for expressing an interest is 12:00PM (Mid-day) on Friday 14th November 2025. Additional information: It is the expectation of the Commissioner that providers will review the specifications provided in order to inform their responses to the pre-market engagement questionnaire.<br/><br/>Please note the Contract Notice Publish date is only indicative at this time and is subject to change.