Chamber and committees

Five potential bidders participated in a pre-qualifying questionnaire process from which three were short-listed on the basis of their demonstrative ability to construct a healthcare project of this scale and complexity.

The five bidders were:

Balfour Beatty Group Limited

Brookfield Europe LP

FCC Elliot Healthcare Ltd

Laing O''Rourke Construction Limited

Miller Construction UK Ltd.

The evaluation of the pre-qualification questionnaire identified the following three bidders to be taken forward to the tender stage of the project:

Balfour Beatty Group Limited

Brookfield Europe LP

Laing O''Rourke Construction Limited.

The procurement process was carried out and was fully compliant with EU regulations. The patient management system procurement was managed using the competitive dialogue procedure, under which following an OJEU Notice and an initial selection process, the purchaser then enters into dialogue with potential bidders, to develop one or more suitable solutions for its requirements and on which the chosen bidders will be invited to tender. The programme is part of the gateway review process with one review already undertaken and a further review planned prior to completion of the contract.

The procurement process for the patient management system was comprehensive and involved 200 staff from five NHS health boards, NHS National Services Scotland and the Scottish Government. The NHS staff included doctors, nurses, health records officers, IT staff and operational managers. These staff were involved in functional, technical, legal and commercial meetings with the bidders.

There was no specific requirement for local employment in the contract awarded. However, the preferred supplier has indicated that they will employ an additional 25-50 staff based in Scotland to support the patient management system.

All bidders deemed capable, following the prequalification stage, of delivering a project of this size and importance are headquartered outwith Scotland. Brookfield Construction is a UK company, and while this project marks its first major construction project in Scotland, it has an excellent track record of healthcare delivery worldwide and has been actively looking to expand its presence north of the border.

Brookfield Construction as a business is not a volume builder and does not carry and have to support significant numbers of current employees throughout the UK. It will therefore have to employ the people to deliver the project. As a construction business, their focus is on delivering to their skills which are primarily healthcare and high rise. The new Southern General Hospital fits these skills perfectly. Brookfield will establish a business in Scotland on the back of this project and rather than resourcing it through existing staff, will send only its core team of 20 to 30 people who have all worked on the submission, and seek the rest of the resource locally.

The decision to award this contract for the new South Glasgow Hospitals project was taken by the Performance Review Group (a standing committee of the board) under delegated authority from the board of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde on 3 November 2009. The sponsorship of political events by others is a matter for parties themselves, not the Scottish Government.

The bidding process adopted a weighting system in scoring potential bids. The highest weighting was given to the bidders capacity to deliver the clinical and business requirements, as outlined in the tender. Cost was the second highest weighted scoring factor. The selected preferred bidder was not the lowest cost tender but represented good value for money and was affordable for all five health boards. Intersystem, the preferred supplier, were in procurement terms the most economically advantageous tender

The corporate headquarters of Intersystems is in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. It does not have branches in Scotland but is the existing patient management system supplier for the second largest health board in Scotland, NHS Lothian. Intersystems are currently seeking office accommodation in Scotland to support the new contract.

No loss of jobs is anticipated as a result of awarding this contract.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-28999 on 25 November 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The patient management system advert placed on the 11 April 2009, attracted 73 notes of interest. Each of these potential contractors (bidders) was sent a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ), 23 responded to the questionnaire, of which nine were short-listed. All potential contractors ruled out were offered debriefing, of which five took up the offer of a meeting. Seven of the nine bidders responded to the specification document offering 10 potential solutions. After scoring the responses and having initial presentations in each area: functional, technical and commercial, four solutions from three bidders were short-listed to be taken forward in 2009.

Perot (Oasis),

Intersystem (TrakCare),

Atos Origin (Oasis),

Atos Origin(System C).

The Atos Origin (Oasis bid) was then dropped by that bidder in June 2009. Intersystem have been selected as the preferred supplier.