Health and social work services

Tender description

Worcestershire County Council are establishing a dynamic purchasing system (DPS) and are looking for companies who have assistive technology products on sale that could meet a social care need in an innovative way. We will be looking to purchase products where they can offer a more efficient and effective way of meeting a social care/ health need. A prospectus is available as a document which is attached giving more detail in relation to Worcestershire and contains some examples of potential issues that may benefit from technology solutions. We believe that technology can offer real benefits in the way we deliver social care but challenging the norm is never easy and we are looking for companies that share our belief and will work with us to make this a reality. We recognise that there are some fantastic products for sale but it can be difficult for companies to become established in the social care market. Our aim is to create an environment where companies can work with us to explore how innovation in technology can offer real opportunities to do things differently. As we identify needs that we believe could potentially be met more effectively and efficiently with technology we will run mini competitions through the DPS to identify suitable technology. How the funding for this technology is paid can be negotiated as we are aware that in some case funding may be needed for installation, etc. We envisage mini competitions taking the following format: — Pre competition Open Market Engagement to highlight identified need that a solution is required for; — Opportunity to possibly come to workshops/ attend a webinar and engage with commissioners to explore identified need further; — The lead in time for these activities will depend on the complexity of need identified and will vary between competitions. Mini competition: The following will be included as a minimum: Notice will be issued to DPS members, this will include a more detailed specification, any identified KPI's and specific requirements for the individual competition including target benefit realisation. Worcestershire County Council invites applications from suitably experienced organisations who wish to be considered for selection to tender for admission to the DPS for the provision of Innovative Technology in Care. The DPS will commence on 1.7.2016 and will be for a period of 2 years with an option to extend by annual increments up to a maximum of 4 years. Interested parties should register their interest in the project via the In-Tend website: https://www.in-tendhost.co.uk/worcestershire/aspx/Home and complete and submit the Initial Pre-Qualification Questionnaire together with any supporting information requested by 12:00 on 17.6.2016. The date stated for requests to participate above is the earliest date when the Council can begin to evaluate applications and admit organisations to the DPS. Please note that organisations can apply to join the Council's DPS at any time during its validity if they satisfy the selection criteria and none of the grounds for exclusion apply. So, whilst it is open to any organisation to apply to join the DPS after the date stated above, those organisations who wish to participate in the earliest competitions will be required to submit their online PQQ no later than the date stated for requests to participate. How to obtain the PQQ Documents: The Pre-Qualification Questionnaire can be accessed when logged into In-Tend by selecting ‘View Details’ on the relevant tender advert and clicking the ‘Express Interest’ tab. Once in the tender there are 5 tabs — ‘Tender’, PQQ- documents, ‘Correspondence’, ‘Clarifications’ and ‘History’. Select the 2nd tab (PQQ) where you will find useful information under ‘Tender Details’ continue to scroll down to the heading ‘Tender Documents Received’ where you will be able to view / download the documents. You will need to confirm whether you wish to ‘Opt In’ or ‘Opt Out’ of the opportunity. To progress your application you will need to ‘Opt In’. Depending on the nature of technology provided as part of the solution providers may be required to sign up to third party access agreements and operate in line with relevant Worcestershire County Council or other participating bodies policies. These may include but are not limited to Cloud Computing Policies and the ICT Hosting Strategies. The current third party agreements are attached for provider's information. If there is any requirement for any service or solution to link back into the Secure Worcestershire County Council network to access any data or Worcestershire County Council business application then a separate technical consultation will need to take place. The Contracting Authority views that the range of services to be procured during this tender should be awarded as a multiple supplier DPS and seeks applications from suitably experienced suppliers who wish to pre-qualify for this service. Whilst every effort has been made to consider the full scope of the requirement, the Contracting Authority does not guarantee the volume of the services required resulting from this DPS or that it will accept any pre-qualification on completion of the procurement exercise. At the discretion of the council, if a supplier ceases to meet the original exclusion or selection criteria during the course of the DPS it is likely that it may be excluded or suspended from taking part in any Mini-Competition (Tender) process. If a supplier fails 1 of the mandatory grounds during the course of the DPS the County Council may be required to remove the supplier from the DPS.