Agenda item

Report of the Head of Health and Wellbeing

The Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Health and Wellbeing which provided details of the options for the provision of a community infection prevention service following the expiration of the existing service contract with Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust on 30 June 2019.

Decision Made: That:

 (1)      the Chief Executive be authorised to conduct an OJEU Light Touch Regime tender exercise for the Community Infection Control Service to run for a period of three years from 1September 2019 with the option of two further one-year extensions;

(2)       the evaluation be based on MEAT (Most Economically Advantageous Tender) taking into consideration a balance between Quality and Cost;

(3)       the Chief Executive be granted delegated authority to award the contract, following the tender exercise, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing.

Reasons for the Decision:

The Sefton Community Infection Prevention and Control Service supports hospices, care homes and schools across the Borough to prevent and manage communicable disease outbreaks.

The Service works closely with care homes across the Borough to support the management, control and prevention of influenza and norovirus (winter vomiting bug). This ensured that vulnerable care home residents are protected during community outbreaks of norovirus and influenza. Consequently, there was a high level of critical activity for this Service when seasonal flu and norovirus are circulating within the community. This peak in activity typically occurs between early November and mid- April.

Extending the contract by an additional two months would ensure that activity related to procurement and mobilisation take place after this period. The submission of bids would take place toward the end of April 2019 and the mobilisation would take place from June to August 2019. This option would allow a period of two months following the new Service contract start date before we would expect a seasonal increase in activity.

The contract would be awarded on the basis of a core contract period of three years with two further optional extension periods of one year each. The purpose of building contracts around core and extension periods was to ensure that the quality of the contract is maintained throughout the life of the contract and to ensure that the Council, particularly at times of financial uncertainty, has flexibility to bring contracts to a conclusion and/or is able to refine services and or goods received under the contract.

The Community Infection Prevention and Control Service is part of the mandated health protection function of Public Health in the Local Authority, this is set out in Part 2 of the Local Authorities (Public Health Functions and Entry to Premises by Local Healthwatch Representatives) Regulations 2013, Regulation 8.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

The option of re-procuring the Service with a start date of 1 July 2019 would involve submission of bids in January/February 2019 with mobilisation of the new Service commencing 1April 2019, during the services anticipated peak in activity.

Therefore, this option would potentially impact on the services ability to respond to community outbreaks. This option had been rejected due to risks associated with procurement and mobilisation of this Service during the anticipated seasonal peak in critical activities, which occurs between November and April.