Hearing Aid Accessories NHS Supply Chain

“Supply of Ear Inserts and Associated Products”.

UK-Normanton: parts and accessories for hearing aids

2012/S 80-131430

Contract notice

Supplies

Directive 2004/18/EC

Section I: Contracting authority

I.1)Name, addresses and contact point(s)

NHS Supply Chain
NHS Supply Chain Foxbridge Way, West Yorkshire
For the attention of: Janet Booth
WF6 1TL Normanton
UNITED KINGDOM
Telephone: +44 1924328816
E-mail: janet.booth@supplychain.nhs.uk

Internet address(es):

General address of the contracting authority: www.supplychain.nhs.uk

Address of the buyer profile: Blank
Further information can be obtained from: NHS Supply Chain acting as agent for NHS Business Services Authority
NHS Supply Chain, Foxbridge Way
For the attention of: Buyer
WF6 1TL Normanton
UNITED KINGDOM
Internet address: http://procurement.supplychain.nhs.uk/

Specifications and additional documents (including documents for competitive dialogue and a dynamic purchasing system) can be obtained from: NHS Supply Chain acting as agent for NHS Business Services Authority
NHS Supply Chain, Foxbridge Way
For the attention of: Buyer
WF6 1TL Normanton
UNITED KINGDOM
Internet address: http://procurement.supplychain.nhs.uk/

Tenders or requests to participate must be sent to: NHS Supply Chain acting as agent for NHS Business Services Authority
NHS Supply Chain, Foxbridge Way
For the attention of: Buyer
WF6 1TL Normanton
UNITED KINGDOM
Internet address: http://procurement.supplychain.nhs.uk/

I.2)Type of the contracting authority

National or federal agency/office

I.3)Main activity

Health

I.4)Contract award on behalf of other contracting authorities

The contracting authority is purchasing on behalf of other contracting authorities: yes

Section II: Object of the contract

II.1)Description

II.1.1)Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority:

“Supply of Ear Inserts and Associated Products”.

II.1.2)Type of contract and location of works, place of delivery or of performance

Supplies
Purchase
Main site or location of works, place of delivery or of performance: “Various locations in UK”.
NUTS code UK

II.1.3)Information about a public contract, a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system (DPS)

The notice involves the establishment of a framework agreement

II.1.4)Information on framework agreement

Duration of the framework agreement

Duration in years: 2
Estimated total value of purchases for the entire duration of the framework agreement

Estimated value excluding VAT: 5 500 000,00 GBP

II.1.5)Short description of the contract or purchase(s)

A non-exclusive Framework Agreement for the supply of ear inserts and associated products comprising earmoulds and aural grommets.

II.1.6)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)

33185100

II.1.7)Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

II.1.8)Lots

This contract is divided into lots: yes

II.1.9)Information about variants

II.2)Quantity or scope of the contract

II.2.1)Total quantity or scope:

“Precise quantities are unknown and will also depend on the number of suppliers appointed. Whilst it is anticipated that initial expenditure will be in the region of 5 500 000 GBP for this contract award this is approximate only and the values will be to such level as those purchasing under the framework consider necessary to provide suitable requirements”.

II.2.2)Information about options

Options: yes
Description of these options: “This framework agreement will have the option to extend for a maximum of 24 months in addition to the initial two year period upon review”.

II.2.3)Information about renewals

II.3)Duration of the contract or time limit for completion

Duration in months: 24 (from the award of the contract)

Information about lots

Lot No: 1 Lot title: Earmoulds

1)Short description

A non-exclusive Framework Agreement for the supply of earmoulds for use with hearing aids.

2)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)

33185100

3)Quantity or scope

“Precise quantities are unknown and will also depend on the number of suppliers appointed. Whilst it is anticipated that initial expenditure will be in the region of 5 000 000 GBP for this lot this is approximate only and the values will be to such level as those purchasing under the framework consider necessary to provide suitable requirements”.
Estimated value excluding VAT: 5 500 000,00 GBP

4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion

5)Additional information about lots

Lot No: 2 Lot title: Aural Grommets

1)Short description

A non-exclusive Framework Agreement for the supply of aural grommets.

2)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)

33185100

3)Quantity or scope

“Precise quantities are unknown and will also depend on the number of suppliers appointed. Whilst it is anticipated that initial expenditure will be in the region of 500 000 GBP for this lot this is approximate only and the values will be to such level as those purchasing under the framework consider necessary to provide suitable requirements”.
Estimated value excluding VAT: 500 000,00 GBP

4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion

5)Additional information about lots

Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information

III.1)Conditions relating to the contract

III.1.1)Deposits and guarantees required:

“Parent company or other guarantees may be required in certain circumstances. Further details will be in the contract documents”.

III.1.2)Main financing conditions and payment arrangements and/or reference to the relevant provisions governing them:

“Please see tender documents”.

III.1.3)Legal form to be taken by the group of economic operators to whom the contract is to be awarded:

“The Contracting Authority reserves the right to require groupings of entities to take a particular form or to require one party to undertake primary legal liability or to require that each party undertakes joint and several liability”.

III.1.4)Other particular conditions

The performance of the contract is subject to particular conditions: yes
Description of particular conditions: “The Framework Agreement includes obligations with respect to environmental issues and a requirement for successful suppliers to comply with the NHS Supply Chain Code of Conduct”.

III.2)Conditions for participation

III.2.1)Personal situation of economic operators, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers

Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met: Submission of expression of interest and procurement specific information:
This procurement exercise will be conducted on the NHS Supply Chain eTendering portal at http://procurement.supplychain.nhs.uk/.

Candidates wishing to be considered for this contract must register their expression of interest and provide additional procurement-specific information (if required) through the NHS Supply Chain eTendering portal as follows:
Registration:
If not already registered candidates should register on the NHS Supply Chain eTendering portal at http://procurement.supplychain.nhs.uk/.

Expression of interest:
Once registered candidates must express their interest as follows:
Login to the NHS Supply Chain eTendering portal.
Select the NHS Supply Chain link on the Management Console.
Select the “+” symbol to the left of the “My Official Journal European Union Notices”. Select the “+” next to “OJEU Notices” and then again when the sign is next to OJEU Notices to make all available notices visible.
Select the required notice by placing the cursor over the name of the notice and then left clicking once on the name.
After reading the notice enable the expression of interest tick-box at the bottom of the notice click on the “Save Details” button and close the form.
Now select the “ISS Communities” tab at the top left of the page. Follow step c above. There should be a “+” next to the notice you expressed the interest in. That will now drop down to “My tenders” or “My PQQ”.
The tender or PQQ linked to the OJEU notice will become visible by clicking on the “+” next to the My Tenders or My PQQ link.
For tenders:
Clicking on the tender heading will open the next screen. Look to the middle of the page for a heading called “An eRS data package”.
Left click once on the file called eRSXX.ZIP (where XX denotes the tender number) to download the tender package that contains the complete response information. This package must only be opened using the eRS application which can be downloaded from the http://procurement.supplychain.nhs.uk/ website.

Using the eRS application follow the instructions and complete the responses.
The response MUST be submitted via the internet method as prescribed in the eRS application.
In the event that the notice refers to a PQQ:
Clicking on the name of the PQQ will open a “Pre Qualification Questionnaire” page. Read through and then select “Save Details” at the bottom of the page. The word “Attachment” next to the icon needs to be clicked on and then the attachment window will appear allowing you to respond to the questions and add attachments as required. The response is submitted when the “Save Details” button is clicked. The responses can be submitted as many times as required until the closing time for the event.
Helpdesk.
For any support in submitting your expression of interest or tender response please contact the eTendering Helpdesk at +44 8454687877 or http://procurement.supplychain.nhs.uk/. There are a number of quick help guides available on the portal. Reading these will assistthe supplier in completing and submitting their responses.

III.2.2)Economic and financial ability

III.2.3)Technical capacity

III.2.4)Information about reserved contracts

III.3)Conditions specific to services contracts

III.3.1)Information about a particular profession

III.3.2)Staff responsible for the execution of the service

Section IV: Procedure

IV.1)Type of procedure

IV.1.1)Type of procedure

Open

IV.1.2)Limitations on the number of operators who will be invited to tender or to participate

IV.1.3)Reduction of the number of operators during the negotiation or dialogue

IV.2)Award criteria

IV.2.1)Award criteria

The most economically advantageous tender in terms of the criteria stated in the specifications, in the invitation to tender or to negotiate or in the descriptive document

IV.2.2)Information about electronic auction

An electronic auction will be used: yes
Additional information about electronic auction: “An electronic auction (e-auction) may be used to award all or part of the requirements. The use of e-auctions may also be an option as part of any mini competition process”.

IV.3)Administrative information

IV.3.1)File reference number attributed by the contracting authority:

IV.3.2)Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract

IV.3.3)Conditions for obtaining specifications and additional documents or descriptive document

IV.3.4)Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate

6.6.2012 – 15:00

IV.3.5)Date of dispatch of invitations to tender or to participate to selected candidates

IV.3.6)Language(s) in which tenders or requests to participate may be drawn up

English.

IV.3.7)Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender

in days: 90 (from the date stated for receipt of tender)

IV.3.8)Conditions for opening tenders

Date: 7.6.2012 – 09:00
Place:

As in abovementioned I.1.

Persons authorised to be present at the opening of tenders: yes
Additional information about authorised persons and opening procedure: “Only the NHS Supply Chain contract owner or delegate”.

Section VI: Complementary information

VI.1)Information about recurrence

VI.2)Information about European Union funds

VI.3)Additional information

Please note that the number of maximum suppliers as set out in II.1.4 is provided as an estimate only. Tenderers should refer to section 3.5 of the Invitation to Tender for details of the scores which tenderers will need to obtain in order to be appointed to the Framework Agreement. NHS Supply Chain reserves therefore the right to appoint more suppliers to the Framework Agreement in the event that more than 20 reach the minimum score for appointment which is set out in the ITT.
The Framework Agreement will be between NHS Supply Chain and the Supplier. Under the Framework Agreement there will be two different methods of supply – one for Non-Direct Contract Products and one for Direct Contract Products.
The term of contracts formed under the Framework Agreement may continue beyond the end of the term of the Framework Agreement itself.
NHS Supply Chain will share savings information in order to assist its customers with making informed procurement decisions.
NHS Supply Chain recognises that the products which are the subject of this procurement are in a changing environment and that there may be opportunities for suppliers who are appointed to particular lots over the lifetime of the Framework Agreement to develop products which fall within the scope of other lots. Therefore NHS Supply Chain reserves the right to allow suppliers who are appointed to a lot to introduce new product ranges to lots which they were not initially appointed to post contract award providing the product range meets the criteria outlined below:
— it must be a new range for the supplier which was not available at tender stage,
— new range introductions must meet the specification outlined within Appendix 3 of the ITT document,
— if the range is rejected at tender stage for not meeting tender requirements it will not be considered by NHS Supply Chain again throughout the lifetime of the Framework Agreement.
NHS Supply Chain will be entitled to purchase the supplies identified in the tender documents as Non-Direct Contract Products which it will then make available for purchase by:
1) any NHS Trust;
2) any other NHS entity;
3) any government department agency or other statutory body; and/or
4) any private sector entity active in the UK healthcare sector.
For the supplies and/or services identified as Direct Contract Products in the tender documents.
1) NHS Supply Chain;
2) any NHS Trust;
3) any other NHS entity;
4) any government department agency or other statutory body; and/or
5) any private sector entity active in the UK healthcare sector will be able to enter into a direct contract with the Supplier for any of the supplies and/or services under the Framework.
Tenders and all supporting documentation for the contract must be priced in sterling and written in English. Any agreement entered into will be considered a contract made in England according to English law and will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts. NHS Supply Chain is not liable for any costs incurred by those expressing an interest in tendering for this contract opportunity. NHS Supply Chain reserves the right to terminate the procurement process (or part of it) to change the basis of and the procedures for the procurement process at any time or to procure the subject matter of the contract by alternative means if it appears that it can be more advantageously procured by alternative means. The most economically advantageous or any tender will not automatically be accepted.
All communications must be made through NHS Supply Chain’s eTendering portal at http://procurement.supplychain.nhs.uk/ using the Message Centre facility linked to this particular contract notice.

VI.4)Procedures for appeal

VI.4.1)Body responsible for appeal procedures

Refer to point VI.4.2

Body responsible for mediation procedures

Not applicable

VI.4.2)Lodging of appeals

Precise information on deadline(s) for lodging appeals: “Any appeals under this process should be addressed to the contact in point I.1.”.

VI.4.3)Service from which information about the lodging of appeals may be obtained

VI.5)Date of dispatch of this notice:23.4.2012