Issue details

GMCA have run a competitive process and the University of Salford (working in partnership with The Christie) submitted the only bid which was scored at 45% (see D3 form for full breakdown)

The bidder was given substantive feedback which included a face-to-face meeting at Churchgate House and was asked to resubmit their response to questions 4, 5, 6 and 7 as well as resubmitting their financial annex with an operating profit of less than 20%. They submitted this response within the timescale provided and the revised responses were re-scored by the same evaluation panel.

Despite the responses to questions 4, 6 and 7 being scored as good or acceptable, there were still issues with the financial value for money, in particular the financial annex around calculations being incorrect, values in different tabs not aligning and a lack of understanding about the progressions aspect of the contract.

As a third and final chance, the bidder was asked to clarify their position on the financial annex and financial value for money response by resubmitting a financial annex and narrative alongside this. We realise that a lot of time and resource has gone into supporting the provider to get their bid to a place where it can be awarded as we recognise the significant value of the activity that will be delivered, both to GM’s AHP workforce and importantly, its service users.

A final response was received by the bidder on 5th September. This has been scored and moderated again and it is felt that there are still some challenges with the financial annex, including some calculations being incorrect and some costs not being attributed for in the correct tabs. Therefore, the decision has been made to make a conditional award offer to the University of Salford, based on a set of conditions being met by them prior to contract award. The conditions are set out in Annex 1.