The organisation has a duty to provide clinical treatment and attention to ensure detainee safety.
This duty comes under Code C of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.
In 2007, Reliance (now Tascor) entered into a £35m contract over 10 years. This was to deliver Custody and Medical Services. The contract is due to expire at the end of June 2017.
It was considered appropriate due to changes in the market for the Custody Support Contract and Medical Services should be tendered separately.
A national specification has been drawn up in conjunction with NHS England for Custody Medical Services.
The Chief Inspector and Inspector responsible for custody reviewed this specification. This was to ensure that operational needs were captured (including legislative changes).
A decision was made to reduce the contract term from 10 years to three years with the option to extend for two further 12 month periods.
It was considered appropriate for a shorter contract to provide flexibility in the current changing environment of collaboration.
An open tender was carried out using EU Supply as the tender portal. This advertised the contract in Contract Finder and OJEU as per the Public Procurement Regulations 2015.
An open tender is a competitive exercise. The tender is advertised and all bidders, who express an interest, can access the tender documentation and submit a bid.
The appendix to this decision record form contains full details of the procurement process and outcome.
Decision 35176. medical service contract renewal (application, 265kB)