Official UK procurement notice
The NIHR Evaluations, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre (NETSCC)
Authority: Department of Health & Social Care (Central government)
Sectors: Administration, defence and social security services (75)Community & Cultural Services (98) Delivery: UK
Framework ceiling (notional)Value not publishedframework ceiling, not attributable revenue
Awarded 19 May 2017
Framework period 7 yrsends 31 Mar 2025 · starts 1 Apr 2018
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNo description was published on the notice. See the official documents.
CPV: Administrative services of agencies · Services furnished by specialist organisations
How this framework works
From the published notice- Framework period
- 7 yrs from 1 Apr 2018, N/A
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1• Established processes for commissioning R&D within NIHR and DH were set up to…
- Established processes for commissioning R&D within NIHR and DH were set up to promote probity in spending public money and equality of opportunity. NETSCC will be expected to adopt similar standards of commissioning for all its managed programmes. This is an essential requirement and bidders must demonstrate an understanding of the process and the skills required to deliver it which, crucially, includes scientific secretariat skills.<br/><br/>
- NETSCC will be required to provide administrative support to all systems and structures used to identify and prioritise research of relevance to those who plan, provide or receive NHS and other health and care services as well as providing systems and processes for research commissioning, monitoring and project management. <br/><br/>
- NETSCC will provide scientific secretariat support, under the direction of a Programme Director, to expert advisory committees and will advise on the prioritisation of research proposals and on commissioning decisions.<br/><br/>
- NETSCC will be required to make all necessary arrangements for commissioning and other meetings. For example, the maintenance of committee membership lists, the production and distribution of all papers necessary well in advance of meetings, the taking of minutes of meetings (which will include discussions of science and research methodology) and the prompt circulation of accurate minutes following meetings.<br/><br/>
- NETSCC will be responsible for the issuing of project and programme contracts (standard contract format) which will be sent for final signature to the DH Science, Research and Evidence Directorate (SRED).<br/><br/>
- All projects and programmes will require a detailed timetable with milestones. NETSCC will monitor projects and programmes and will take receipt of regular reports ensuring that researchers keep to the timetable and achieve milestones. This will require a solid understanding of the science as well as strong administrative skills.<br/><br/>
- NETSCC will be responsible for forecasting, profiling and reporting on annual budgets from April 1st to March 31st of each of the years covered, reporting quarterly and monitoring monthly. <br/><br/>
- Payments to R&D project and research infrastructure contractors are made by DH normally quarterly in arrears. NETSCC will take responsibility for informing SRED when project/ programme contracts have started in order that scheduled payments may commence, and for alerting SRED of any adverse event necessitating suspension of payments. <br/><br/>
- NETSCC will be required to set up and run, in liaison with SRED, financially sound and transparent accounting systems. NETSCC will be expected to adopt information management systems that are compatible with systems already in use by other parts of NIHR. NETSCC will provide progress reports, including financial summaries, in respect of the managed programmes as required. Bidders must be able to demonstrate the necessary skills to deliver this aspect of their bid.<br/><br/>
- NETSCC will take such steps as are necessary to ensure that accurate, well presented, peer reviewed final reports and executive summaries are forthcoming promptly from all projects funded, and that these reports and summaries are entered into appropriate database and library systems. Specifically, NETSCC will deliver the NIHR Journals Library series and all outputs from NETSCC will be included in that series. Relevant NIHR funded research commissioned through the NIHR Central Commissioning facility will also be included (namely Programme Grants for Applied Research) as well as selected outputs from other funders where there is a shared interest, namely the Medical Research Council’s (MRC) Methodology Research Programme.<br/><br/>
- NETSCC will, as routine, alert the Department to forthcoming outputs through an outputs notification process, highlighting any outputs considered sensitive. As part of that process, NETSCC will, as a minimum, provide notice and copies of forthcoming publications, including press releases, arising from funded research at least 28 days prior to publication. Contractors will alert the Department immediately to such forthcoming publications and ensure that it receives advance copies as soon as these are available. <br/><br/>
- NETSCC will use its best endeavours to ensure, as far as possible, that intellectual property rights (IPR) of value to the NHS are properly protected and managed, and agreements are drawn up to ensure the NHS receives an appropriate share of any earnings from IPR.
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
What this means for your bid
- “The NIHR Evaluations, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre (NETSCC)” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record · publisher note attached- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Framework agreement
- Who may use this agreement
- Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 16 Aug 2024, 16:53 BST
- Last source update
- 16 Aug 2024, 16:53 BST
- Authority reference
C0291- FTS notice number
2024/S 000-026222- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-048bd1Find a Tender
Publisher note: The Department intends to re-tender the services at the end of the contract term. The Prior Information Notice can be found here https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/025178-2024
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- —
Timeline
1 Apr 2018 → 16 Aug 2024 · 2 dates- Contract starts1 Apr 2018, 00:00 BST
- Notice published16 Aug 2024, 16:53 BST
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecastSuppliers appointed 1admitted to the panel · see the list ↓
Contracts signed 1latest 19 May 2017
1 suppliers are admitted to this framework without individual award values or dates, see the supplier list below.
Contracts
The NIHR Evaluations, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre (NETSCC)
- Signed
- 19 May 2017
- Value
- £203,019,283
- Period
- 1 Apr 2018 – 31 Mar 2027
- Status
- active
- Change This modification extends the existing NETSCC contract from 31st March 2025 by 2 years to 31st March 2027.<br/><br/>This modification does not change NETSCC’s existing core functions to provide identification, prioritisation, research commissioning and management facilities.<br/><br/>Previous changes to the contract have been made, bringing the current contract value to 141,761,678 GBP (this value excludes this 2-year extension modification.), Need for additional works, services or supplies by the original contractor/concessionaire: The Authority believes that the modification was permitted under Regulation 72(1)(b) of the PCR 2015 (SI 102) due to the following reasons:<br/><br/>a) the modification was necessary to utilise the option to extend for the final 2 years of the 4-year extension term as permitted in the Contract Award Notice.<br/><br/>b) a change of contractor could not have been made for economic or technical reasons as such additional services required highly specialised, health and care research management expertise, reliance on extensive, established stakeholder relationships and an up-to-date working knowledge of NIHR strategy, policies and systems.<br/><br/>c) a change of contractor at this stage would have caused significant inconvenience and substantial duplication of costs as a result of:<br/>i) the fragmentation and duplication of existing NIHR research programmes;<br/>ii) significant, increased contractual management costs<br/>iii) significantly higher admin costs.
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Dispute resolution & review bodies
- The High CourtReview body
Framework contractors & participating bidders
1 commercial party on the notice- DUPLICATE - University of SouthamptonFramework contractor
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.