This procurement opportunity has arisen through consultation and discussion between Navigo, HMT St Hugh's and St Andrew's Hospice, who have come together to form a buying partnership.
The partnership wishes to procure a pharmacy service which is competitive, value for-money and joined-up. It will work across all three organisations and take into account differing priorities and service requirements.
The closing date for submissions is 12PM on Friday 15 March 2024.
For general enquiries, you can contact navigo.businesssupport@nhs.net. This inbox is monitored between 9AM-5PM, Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays. We will aim to respond to your enquiry within two working days.
Please find below all the relevant procurement documentation with regards to the tender.
Procurement documentation
Partnership Pharmacy Service Memorandum of Information (MOI) | Download now
Annex A: Partnership Pharmacy Service Specification | Download now
Annex B: Application Questionnaire and Memorandum of Understanding | Download now
Annex C: ITT Receipt Form | Download now
Annex D: Form of Tender and Certificate of Non-collusion | Download now
Annex E: Conflict of Interest Declaration | Download now
Annex F: Declaration of Eligibility to Tender | Download now
Annex G: Return Label and Receipt | Download now
Annex H: Question and Answer Template | Download now
Questions and answers
| Number | Date received | Date responded | Question raised | Commissioner response | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1 | 6/2/2024 | 7/2/2024 | We are keen to partner with yourselves and to submit a robust, quality bid for this opportunity, and therefore we would ask for your consideration in a request to consider extending the deadline to the 19th April 2024. There are a number of factors affecting all bidders that we believe will have an impact on tender submission and hence the request for the extension period. Firstly, there are high number of tenders in the market currently, and therefore are requesting an extension due to the nature and extent of the information required for a quality submission. As a business we also have annual leave implications, which are inevitable at this time of year, and this will mean relevant stakeholders aren't available to meet the current deadline. Please would the Trust consider an extension to the clarification deadline to allow bidders to further raise their queries as they are working through their tender responses in line with the extension to submission. |
Unfortunately, we would not be able to consider extending the deadline to this date due to business requirements, however, we can consider a short extension to 12 noon on 15th March 2024. All other details remain the same. We will send out revised paperwork to bidders who have already indicated their intention to tender. We will extend the clarification question period and can confirm we will accept questions up to 12.00 noon on Thursday 22nd February 2024 to give bidders a little more time to thoroughly read and post questions. Questions received after this time will not be responded to. The interview presentations will now be on 27th March 2024. Service commencement will remain the same at 1st June 2024. |
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| 2 | 7/02/2024 | 9/02/2024 | Would it be possible to arrange site visits? | Not at the present time so as to not disadvantge other bidders. However, if you are invited for interview on 27th March these will be face to face at our main sites which are all adjacent to each other. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | 8/02/2024 | 9/02/2024 | Is the partnership able to provide expected activity data for OOH requests please? | Out of hours requests will be minimal and only applicable to emergency situations, we do tend to keep stock medication to hand for most eventualities. We would expect to work with the bidder to ensure OOH situations are nominal. We are open to innovative suggestions around OOH cover. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | 8/02/2024 | 9/02/2024 | Is the partnership able to provide a template for invoicing format and data/information required to be supplied on a periodic basis? |
A) Invoices to contain details of all dispensing and to be supplied monthly to the Partnership (one invoice per organisation) Typically these would include for example, charges on delivery, Dosette boxes, dispensing of contract prescriptions(inpatient/outpatient); stock items and CD items, delivery. A spreadsheet would be required itemising all charges which would include dispensed date, site location, patient NHS number, dispensed product, pack size, quantity, net charge, VAT, gross, IS-ZD, Generic Indicator, CD Indicator, BNF chapter & sub-chapter details. B) |
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| 5 | 8/02/2024 | 9/02/2024 | Is the partnership able to supply PIP codes for product lines detailed in the tender please? | We do not have PIP codes available but a list of the typical drugs all organisations order and usual amounts is contained in Appendix 2 of Annex A for all Partners. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | 09/02/2024 | 13/02/2024 |
Where can we find the anticipated named patient prescription turnover and stock supply numbers and values for each of the partners including anticipate future growth-within these numbers it would be useful to identify how many Clozapine prescriptions need dispensed and how many MDS trays are required. |
Navigo: We currently have 50 clozapine patient and the current named patient prescription volume is circa 2000 items per month. We use MDS trays occasionally (1-2-patients per month). |
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| 7 | 09/02/2024 | 13/02/2024 | How many BNF’s are required per organisation every 6 months | 15 in total 3 BNF (Children) These can be in electronic form. |
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| 8 | 09/02/2024 | 13/02/2024 | What are the anticipated number of OOH requests | Out of hours requests will be minimal and only applicable to emergency situations, we do tend to keep stock medication to hand for most eventualities. We would expect to work with the bidder to ensure OOH situations are nominal. We are open to innovative suggestions around OOH cover. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 | 09/02/2024 | 13/02/2024 | Please elaborate on recycling of packaging requirement | We would expect the supplier to have a green plan implemented and provide guidance to the Partnership regarding sustainable medicines management. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 | 09/02/2024 | 13/02/2024 | Which method/system does NAVIGO propose to transfer electronic prescriptions | We are currently utilising contract prescriptions. These are scanned and emailed across to the pharmacy. For inpatient settings we send electronic orders, accompanied by the medication card, sent via email. |
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| 11 | 09/02/2024 | 13/02/2024 | If there is no requirement for onsite pharmacist/technician services how is the provider expected to report on administration errors | We would only expect the provider to report on dispensing errors. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12 | 09/02/2024 | 13/02/2024 | Who is the current supplier of Clozapine | Zaponex | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13 | 12/02/2024 | 13/02/2024 | Please can you review the wording in the first bullet point for question for 9.3 regarding the project implementation plan and confirm that this is required? | Yes, a Project Implementation Plan is required. This gives us as commissioners assurance of the steps you will take as a new provider to embed the new service and be up and running by 1st June 2024. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 14 | 12/02/2024 | 13/02/2024 | Could you also clarify which narrative is meant by ‘the narrative will not count towards the word count’? Does this mean that the maximum word count for question 9.1 is, in fact, significantly above 2,000 words? | I am presuming here that you mean this statement that is actually in question 9.3. ‘The narrative will not count towards the word count.’ This means that in the case of the Implementation Plan only, any wording contained within it can be in addition to the narrative in the question itself. This is different to any other diagrams, charts etc that you may wish to submit as any wording within will count towards the word count. |
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| 15 | 12/02/2024 | 13/02/2024 | Could you also confirm that we should refer to question 8.1 in the response to 9.3 as the project implementation plan has been requested in response to 8.1? | These are two separate documents. The PID is a short plan on a page precis setting out your goals and timeline; the Project Implementation Plan or Gantt chart is a more detailed document setting out start and completion dates, milestones, risks etc etc. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16 | 12/02/2024 | 13/02/2024 | Do any of the partners have space for an onsite pharmacy to deliver the service on behalf of all three | We could consider this, however, all appropriate licences and any other legislative requirements would need to be in place at the new site in order to deliver medications to satellite sites. Please state how this would be achievable within the time restraints of the procurement. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 17 | 13/02/2024 | 13/02/2024 | If one of the partners have space for an onsite pharmacy to deliver the service on behalf of all three what size of premises would be available to determine if this would comply with the licensing requirements. | Will need to answer this with a question. Please can you tell us what size/requirements compliy with licensing requirements in order for us to tell you if we have that amount of space available please? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 18 | 15/02/2024 | 15/02/2024 | Activity Data: To prepare the most accurate proposal for the tender, can we please request the last 12 months’ detailed activity data for all three organisations, further broken down by site. The information we need is the number of stock orders, number of named-patient prescription orders, number of drug lines or drug packs in each order and any other activity information that you feel is helpful to all bidders. |
I have requested this information from all Partners and will upload upon their reply, please keep checking back.
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| 19 | 15/02/2024 | 15/02/2024 | Service Provision: With reference to information provided in Annex A – section 6.2.1, 6.5 & 6.9, our understanding, or service availability requirement is as below 1. Routine Service – as a minimum Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm with deliveries within 48 hours or earlier if possible 2. Emergency Service – outside routine hours BUT ONLY BETWEEN 5pm to 10pm Monday to Saturday, arrangements to dispense and/or stock supply of drugs with same day delivery For the avoidance of any doubt, can you please confirm if our understanding of the service requirement is correct. If not, please clarify. |
This is correct, however, we have very few emergency situations and are open to suggestions as to how this can be covered. Please refer to the answer question 3 on the portal. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 20 | 15/02/2024 | 15/02/2024 |
Provision of Out of Hours service: With reference to information provided in Annex A – Section 5 (Core Components of the Service) and section 6.2.2.3, there is a need for the provider to provide Out of Hours service in addition to the Emergency Service as stated above. If this is correct, then can you please confirm |
1) Emergency provision is when a medication is crucial and needs to be dispensed immediately 2) Out of Hours service is the wish list of having a pharmacy available to dispense outside of 9 – 5 hours, please also refer to the answer for question 3 on the portal. 3) As 2) above. |
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| 21 | 15/02/2024 | 15/02/2024 | Annex A – Section 6.5.3: Can we please request more clarification regarding this requirement. What arrangements is the commissioner seeking to agree with the provider, which will allow access to stock of medicines and consumables from the provider’s premises when the provider’s staff are not present? | This related to a previous tender exercise please ignore. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 22 | 15/02/2024 | 15/02/2024 |
Annex A – Section 5: In the tabulated information of the core components, the following references have been made: For HMT St Hugh’s - “Supply of Pharmaceutical stock to the ward theatre, OPD and Endoscopy which includes technical support and delivery” For St Andrew’s Hospice – “Supply of pharmaceutical stock to the in-patient areas which includes technical support and delivery” Can you please confirm the requirement of “technical support” and the elements of this support requirement |
This refers only to being able to be contactable to answer any necessary questions about a dispensed medication and not to access to a Pharmacy Technician in both cases. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 23 | 15/02/2024 | 15/02/2024 | Annex B – Question 9.6: Reference has been made to section 5.2 of the service specification. However, we cannot find section 5.2 in the Annex A Service Specification document. We can see section 5.1 starts on the page 5 and end on the page 6. This is followed by section 6 starting from the page 7. Can you please clarify this? |
Apologies, I think this is a mistake from a legacy document. There is a section relating to this issue at 6.10.2. Yes that is correct. |
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| 24 | 15/02/2024 | 15/02/2024 | Site visits – Is it possible to arrange a site visits? These will help us to provide an offer which is more reflective of the commissioner’s needs | Please see answer to question 2 on the portal. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 26 | 16/02/2024 | Annex A – Appendix 2 Pharmacy Products. Would we be able to get an average idea of monthly volumes ordered? | 1) Navigo - please click here to see stock orders 2) St Hugh's - please click here to see stock orders 3) St Andrew's - please click here to see stock orders |
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| 27 | 16/02/2024 | How many deliveries per week per site are you looking at? | We anticipate 2 - 4 deliveries per week would be sufficient. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 28 | 19/02/2024 | In your response to question 13 you stated that the project plan required in question 9.3 is to provide assurance of the steps to implement the new service by June 1st. However, the wording in question 9.3 states “Please include details in your Project Implementation Plan showing how you will develop the capacity of your service and performance targets for the first 12 months of the service” Please can you clarify whether you are looking for a plan for the mobilisation period to 1st June or a plan for the first 12 months of the contract? |
Please see answer to question 15 above. Both really, the PID is a plan on a page with goals around meeting targets etc. The Project Implementation Plan (or mobilisation plan) is a more detailed document that takes us through the steps you will take to embed the new service with deadlines etc. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 29 | 21/02/2024 | 21/02/24 | Annex B – Part 10: There is a requirement to provide person specifications. Could you please confirm if you would accept person specifications as attachments, with the understanding that attachments will be excluded from the word count? | Yes, personal specifications for unrecruited staff can be attached without penalty against the word count. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 30 | 22/02/24 |
Can the partnership provide actual quantities of medicines and appliances used over a 12 month period? The current appendix 2 refers to stock levels only – not to the quantities used across the financial year. |
See links to individual documents below and also refer to the answer to question 26 above.
Outstanding information will be updated Monday. 1) Navigo - please click here to see contract prescriptions |
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22/02/24 12:00 Questions are now closed |
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