DAP C Specialist Fertility Services 27/28

Tender description

NHS Essex Integrated Care Board (herein "the Authority")'s intention to award contracts to deliver Specialist Fertility Services to the patients within NHS Essex's ICB geographical footprint. The contract will be for 12 months months from 01st April 2027 - 31st March 2028. The aggregate contract values are below inclusive VAT noting that these are zero value contracts – paid at local prices- based on planning values for 2026-27 and will be subject to any agreed growth and inflator/deflators applicable to 2027/28. Cambridge University Hospital FT £13,383.00 Bourne Hall Fertility £644,727.00 Care Fertility £0.00 Create Health Limited t/a Create Fertility £27,782.00 Guys & St Thomas Hospital £51,737.00 Herts & Essex Fertility Centre £160,414.00 IVI London Wimpole Ltd £51,560.00 The award details for each provider will reflect a nominal £1.00. The providers are existing providers, who are currently satisfying the requirements of the existing contract. The providers have been assessed against the criteria specified for this DAP C process: Quality & Innovation 40%. Quality should be the primary consideration for specialist fertility services due to the highly regulated nature of assisted conception treatment, the clinical risks associated with fertility interventions and the importance of achieving safe, effective patient outcomes. The service specification places significant emphasis on compliance with Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) standards, CQC requirements, NICE guidance, patient safety, live birth rates, waiting time standards and reducing avoidable harm such as multiple births and treatment complications. Innovation remains important, particularly in supporting improvements in patient experience, clinical outcomes, efficiency and access to treatment. However, any innovation must operate within established regulatory and clinical frameworks and should not compromise the quality, safety or effectiveness of care. Value 30%. It is a statutory duty to ensure the best use of public resources, therefore value has the second highest weighting Integration, Collaboration & Service Sustainability 15%, It is essential for good collaboration between specialist fertility services and secondary care Access Health Inequalities and Choice 10%; Access to specialist services are important to ensure all patients receive the appropriate care and treatment Social Value 5%. Although the main focus of the specialist fertility service is to provide healthcare, a weighting of 5% has been allocated to reflect the ICB priority towards the importance of social value Key criteria were specified, and assessment against each criterion was assessed based as above and on the current service delivery model and performance. and the supplier meets all the requirements specified to the satisfaction of the ICB, and it is expected that they will satisfy the requirements of the new contract. NHS Essex Integrated Care Board (the Authority) intends to award a contract for the provision of Community Specialist Fertility Services in to the existing providers anmed above following Direct Award Process C under the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. NHS Essex Integrated Care Board, acting as the Relevant Authority, is commissioning these services to support will be provided in line with the NHS Essex ICB Service Restriction Policy: Assisted Conception Commissioning Policy. Further details can be found at II.2.4) Description of the procurement Lot 1: The Authority intends to award this contract via Direct Award Process C under the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and Procurement Act 2023 do not apply. NHS Essex Integrated Care Board is the Relevant Authority undertaking this process. The services comprise the provision of Specialist Fertility Services. Infertility is defined as a failure to conceive after regular unprotected sexual intercourse in the absence of known reproductive pathology. The management of infertility falls into 3 main types: 1. Medical treatment to restore fertility (for example, the use of drugs for ovulation induction) 2. Surgical treatment to restore fertility (for example, laparoscopy for ablation of endometriosis) 3. Assisted reproduction techniques – any treatment that deals with means of conception other than vaginal coitus. It frequently involves the handling of gametes or embryos and mainly includes in vitro fertilisation (IVF), intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and Donor Insemination (DI). The specialist fertility services to be provided to patients fulfilling the eligibility criteria include: 1. In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) with or without Intra-cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) 2. Frozen Embryo Transfer 3. Embryo/Blastocyst Freezing and Storage (Gametes) 4. Surgical sperm recovery (Testicular Epididymal Sperm Aspiration (TESA) / Percutaneous Sperm Aspiration (PESA) including storage where required) 5. Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) unstimulated 6. Donor Oocyte Cycle 7. Donor Sperm Insemination, with IVF/IUI. Donor insemination in following conditions: obstructive azoospermia, non-obstructive azoospermia, severe deficits in semen quality in couples who do not wish to undergo ICSI, where there is a high risk of transmitting infectious disease to the offspring or woman from the man 8. Oocyte retrieval for patients undergoing cancer treatments – includes first years’ storage 9. Oocyte or sperm annual storage for patients undergoing cancer treatment1. 10. Egg donation where no other treatment is available: The patient must be able to provide a donor; alternatively, the patient can be placed on the waiting list until a donor becomes available. This waiting list will be monitored separately to the general IVF waiting list. 11. Specialist courier transportation of stored gametes between NHS providers where an eligible patient chooses to transfer their NHS treatment. This will also apply to patients choosing to transfer from a private clinic to NHS clinic in order to comply with the MSE ICB policy. The above services shall be provided in line with HFEA regulations The providers are existing providers of these services to NHS Essex Integrated Care Board and has demonstrated their ability to deliver the services to the required standard, following assessment against the five key Provider Selection Regime criteria. The contract period is from 01 April 2027 to 31 March 2028. The total contract value for the 2027/28 is £0 and the indicative aggregate value are as previously stated. The value is activity-dependent and may vary over the contract term. The proposed values for the term are shown II.1.4. These are zero value contracts – paid at local prices- based on planning values for 2026-27 and will be subject to any agreed growth and inflator/deflators applicable to 2027/28.