Dental practice and related services

Tender description

Bedford Borough Council (BBC), Central Bedfordshire Council (CBC), Luton Borough Council (LBC) and Milton Keynes Borough Council (MKBC) are responsible for the provision Dental Public Health Services for their residents. This will be a joint procurement exercise on behalf BBC, CBC, LBC and MKBC and are jointly seeking potential bidders that would be interested in submitting a tender for Dental Epidemiology. Key Objectives This shall require the Service Provider to: —Complete clinical examinations on an agreed population, as required by the National Dental Epidemiology Programme coordinated by Public Health England. The dental surveys, coordinated by Public Health England are set out in their protocol which is published by PHE for the cohort within the population to be surveyed; —The PHE dental epidemiology protocol sets out how the surveys are to be conducted and the preparations required by the field team prior to the conduct of the surveys which includes training and calibrations of the examiners; —The examination of the dental health of 5 year old children is under taken every other year and the results contribute to the Public Health Outcomes Framework; —Other cohorts to be examined when 5 year olds are not examined are specified by PHE. The local Consultant in Dental Public Health employed by Public Health England supports Authorities in advising on the requirements of the survey; —The settings in which the surveys are conducted will be agreed with the Authorities, dependant on the requirements of the Dental Epidemiology Programme protocol as set out by PHE. The initial Service requirement is to provide the DPHIP PHE surveys, however it is recognised that this may require changing over the lifetime of the Contract. The Authorities may require the Provider to carry out surveys, to meet local needs, which are not part of the DPHIP PHE. In these circumstances the Authorities shall give sufficient notice to the Provider and negotiate any changes via appropriate contract variations. A sample survey above the minimum sample size (final sample size to be determined by Authorities but to be no more than 6 000) will be required in Years 1 and 3, enabling Authorities to understand, in more detail, where inequalities lie within Luton Borough and Milton Keynes. Constraints All public sector budgets are under the pressure of cuts and reductions in grants and support from Central Government. As such the Commissioning Authorities have to deliver more services for a lower cost, and are looking to providers that can advantage of streamlined and collaborative working in order to submit tenders that are below the 76 00 GBP p.a. threshold we currently have for delivery of this service. Contract The contract duration is for 4 years with the opportunity to extend for a further 2 years. The contract will be held by Bedford Borough Council. Contract will start from the 1.8. 2016 and providers will be expected deliver services from that date. The contract value over 6 years is 456 000 GBP [including extensions]. Tender Advertisement and ITT Publication Responses to this PIN will determine the publication of a contract opportunity expected to take place in early March 2016 with submissions expected by early May 2016. Please reply to this PIN by registering on the DELTA website and sending a message to Public Health Category Manager, Bedford Borough Council.