Executive Corridor
Darlington Memorial Hospital
Hollyhurst Road
Darlington
DL3 6HX
Switchboard Tel: 01325 38 0100
Foundation Trust Office: 01325 74 3625
Corporate Records Office: 01325 74 3700
Request for Information Reference: 07.24.51
FOI Direct line: 01325 743700
Email: xxxxxxx.xxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx
Mr Leo Pritchard
Email only
12th August 2024
Dear Mr Pritchard
Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Request for Information
Thank you for submitting a request for information which we received on 17th July 2024
in relation to County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust). Your
request has been processed under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act
2000 and I am now able to provide you with a response.
Your request was in relation to Sexual Health Services contracts Tendering and
Selections Documents and I am providing the following information in response to your
specific questions:
I am writing to submit a Freedom of Information (FOI) request under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000. This request seeks copies of documents created in past
tendering and selection processes for contracts for sexual health/genitourinary
medicine services within CDDFT.
Specifically, I would like to request copies of the following documents, if
available, for the five most recent completed contract tendering and selection
processes:
1.
Tender Documents: Copies of the formal tender documents issued for the
five most recent sexual health service contracts.
Under the terms of the Act, a request for information can be refused where one
or more exemptions listed in the Act apply. In this case the Trust is claiming an
exemption under Section 21 of the Act, namely the information regarding tender
documents is otherwise accessible from various website. You are able to
register on the NHS portals and access all tenders. The Trust use a number of
ports as follows.
Supplier registration (due-north.com
)www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk
Proactis - Supplier Network
b2bquotetenders.co.uk
Health Family Support
Welcome (site.com)
TED
https://auth.ted.com/users/new
2.
Selection Process Documentation: All documents outlining the specific
selection process for each contract, including (but not limited to)
timelines, needs assessments, and evaluation criteria.
Tender Process:
Tender is released into the public domain with a deadline of around 4 weeks
to submit the bid documentation.
A clarification process is set for bidders to ask questions regarding the
process, the service specification and anything that will help to provide the
best response. Every bidder sees all the Q & A’s.
Potential providers complete the response document/s including a finance
summary Financial Model template (FMT) – This for CDDFT has to be
passed by the Exec committee.
Regular review meetings are set to ensure progress and completion of the
required response document and associate attachments i.e. staffing
structures, mobilisation plans, policies etc.
Documents are submitted electronically or via a portal by the deadline
otherwise they are excluded.
Commissioners evaluate the responses of all bidders and after around 3-4
weeks, notify the successful provider of their intention to award the contract.
A 10 day standstill period is set to allow any challenges to the decision after
which if no issues, the contract is awarded.
If needs be a mobilisation period (built into the timing plan) is started for the
provider to prepare for the service commencement.
Meeting/s are arrange with the commissioner to answer and questions
before the service starts.
3.
Selection Results: The final results of each selection process, including
the names of shortlisted providers and the chosen provider for each
contract.
4.
Retrospective Summaries: Any retrospective summaries, analyses, or
evaluations conducted by CDDFT examining, explaining, or assessing the
effectiveness of the past selection processes for sexual health service
contracts.
For the overall Sexual Health Services Contract:
This contract was awarded to CDDFT by the commissioners of the service.
Durham County Council
Resources
County Hall
Durham
County Durham
United Kingdom
DH1 5UF
Email
: xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx
Darlington Borough Council
Complaints & Information Governance Team
Town Hall
Feethams
Darlington
DL1 5QT
Email
: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
For the Online Testing Service
The successful provider was Sh:24. This provider was the only bid.
The Trust are unable to provide further information as requested on the grounds
that this information is commercially sensitive and has, therefore, been withheld
pursuant to Section 43 of the Act. Section 43 (2) exempts from disclosure the
following:
Our current suppliers have made clear representation that the model provided
is commercially sensitive information, the disclosure of which would be likely to
prejudice their commercial interests, as it would provide alternative bidders with
an understanding of their costs (which would not be reciprocated) with respect
to similar contracts in the NHS, thereby undermining their ability to tender, on
fair and equal terms, for such contracts. The Trust considers that there is
potential for such harm to arise with reasonable proximity and, therefore, that
the exemption under Section 43(2) of the Act is engaged.
The Trust acknowledges the public interest in publication of the information;
specifically the interest in transparency with respect to expenditure on services,
as a means of assisting the taxpayer in evaluating their value for money.
However, there is a competing public interest in preserving fair market
competition and the ability of public authorities to obtain value for money when
sourcing services. In previous rulings the Information Commissioner has made
clear that the Freedom of Information Act is not intended to distort fair market
competition. In this case, the Trust therefore considers that the public interest
in preserving fair competition outweighs the general public interest in
transparency and is therefore applying the exemption under Section 43(2).
In line with the Information Commissioner’s directive on the disclosure of information
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 your request will form part of our disclosure
log on the Trust’s website. However please be assured that we anonymise all
responses prior to adding them to the disclosure log.
I hope that this response has provided you with the information you had requested. If
you have any queries or wish to discuss the information supplied, please do not
hesitate to contact me by telephone or in writing. If however, you are dissatisfied with
the way in which your request has been handled and would like an internal review, you
will need to contact me in writing at the above address or v
ia cdda-tr.cddftfoi@nhs. If you remain dissatisfied with our response following an internal review you have the
right to appeal to The Information Commissioner at Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. More information is available on their website;
www.ico.gov.uk. Yours sincerely
Susan Cook
Corporate Records and Freedom of Information Facilitator
