The Contracting Authority is procuring a targeted prostate cancer screening pathway with a focus on men at increased risk due to an inherited BRCA2 variant utilising the competitive provider selection process under the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023.

NHS England is seeking a provider to deliver a national Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) Laboratory Processing and Virtual Screening Pathway Coordination service to support the Targeted Prostate Cancer Screening Programme for England.

The service will include PSA Sample logistics from the agreed collection handoff point, Sample receipt and accessioning, PSA processing and result authorisation, secure result transmission, consumables provision, Sample and pathway tracking, Failsafe management, Programme data and reporting, and Virtual Screening Pathway Coordination. The VSPC function will include coordination of MRI appointments following an above-threshold PSA result and coordination of biopsy/urology appointments following an actionable MRI result, within the Authority-approved pathway and responsibility arrangements.

The procurement does not include delivery of diagnostic MRI scanning or MRI reporting, biopsy procedures, urology treatment, BRCA digital decision-resource development, BRCA genetic testing or development of the national Programme IT system. Clinical delivery and acceptance of onward referrals remain with the relevant commissioned clinical providers.

As part of this process, the Contracting Authority would like to invite interested parties to read and complete our Invitation to Tender within our e-Tendering System Atamis, https://atamis-1928.my.site.com/s/Welcome. This service will be competed under The Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023 and will not be competed via Public Contract Regulations 2015 or via the Procurement Act 2023.

The Contracting Authority will be using Atamis, the Contracting Authority’s e-Tendering system for this procurement exercise. For further information, the ITT documentation can be found via the 'Live Opportunities' list on the e-tendering system.

Only Tenders which pass the applicable compliance checks and all applicable Pass/Fail requirements in Questionnaire 1 – the Basic Selection Criteria Questionnaire in accordance with Document 1 – ITT Instructions, will proceed to Stage 2 evaluation.

Stage 1 (Compliance and Basic Selection Criteria Questionnaire)
Compliance checks will be completed to ensure tenders are completed as per the ITT instructions. The Basic Selection Criteria Questionnaire will evaluate the Basic Selection Criteria. The questions will be evaluated on a Pass/Fail or for information only basis and can be found in Document 3.

Stage 2 (Quality, Social Value and Commercial Envelope)
This will be the evaluation of the Quality and Commercial envelope which contains the Key Criteria questions and can be found in Document 4 (Quality and Social Value Envelope) and Document 5 (Commercial Envelope). Scores from Stage 2 evaluation will form 100% of the final score.

The Key Criteria (as outlined in PSR Regulation 5) for Stage 2 will be evaluated as outlined below:

Stage 2 - Quality & Social Value Envelope - 80%

1. Service model, accountability and pathway operation - 10%

National delivery model, governance, roles/responsibilities, handoffs, escalation and VSPC accountability.

2. Collection packs, sample-taking site interface and logistics - 12%

Consumables, site onboarding, Sample handoff, transport, chain of custody, logistics resilience and exceptions.

3. Laboratory capability, assay control, accreditation and analytical quality - 16%

Laboratory capability, UKAS/ISO 15189, approved PSA assay, IQC/EQA, calibration, validation and analytical consistency.

4. Result reporting, National IT interface, data and management information- 10%

Result transmission, interfaces, acknowledgements, data quality, reconciliation, downtime, MI and reporting.

5. Failsafe, invalid Samples, repeat collection and onward MRI/biopsy coordination - 14%

Failsafe, failed/invalid Samples, repeats, MRI coordination, biopsy/urology handoff, acknowledgement and escalation.

6. Mobilisation, capacity, resilience and business continuity - 8%

Mobilisation, readiness, capacity, testing, resilience, BCP, recovery, transition and exit.

7. Social Value – fair work, sustainable delivery and additional equitable-access benefits – 10%

PSR Key Criteria

In accordance with Regulation 5 of the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023, the award criteria collectively assess all five PSR Key Criteria as follows:

Quality and Innovation – assessed through Questions 1–6 of the Quality Envelope, including service quality, logistics, laboratory capability, analytical quality, digital/result reporting, Failsafe arrangements, mobilisation, capacity and resilience.

Value – assessed through the Commercial Envelope, weighted at 20%.

Integration, Collaboration and Service Sustainability – assessed principally through Questions 1, 4, 5 and 6, including governance, pathway interfaces, National IT integration, handoffs, onward coordination, capacity, resilience and business continuity.

Improving Access, Reducing Health Inequalities and Facilitating Choice – assessed principally through Questions 2, 5 and 7, including equitable national logistics and access, remote-area arrangements, Failsafe/pathway coordination and additional equitable-access commitments.

Social Value – assessed through Question 7, weighted at 10%.

Stage 2 - Commercial Envelope - 20%

This is a Provider Selection Regime (PSR) Contract Notice. The awarding of this contract is subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 or Procurement Act 2023 do not apply to this award.