Contract Overview
The HealthTrust Europe (HTE) framework agreement for Total Waste Management is simple to use and covers domestic, clinical, reusable sharps and confidential waste services. The appointed suppliers to each Lot within the framework have true supply capability, and the expertise to assist their customers through many aspects of the process.
This framework agreement is for the provision of Domestic Waste Services, Clinical Waste Services, Reusable Sharps Waste Services, Confidential Waste Services, Total Waste Management Services and IT Asset Disposal (ITAD).
- Multiple award options – Direct Award, Hybrid Award, Mini Competition
- E-Auction capability
- ITAD lot to help customers ensure that end-of-life IT equipment is managed responsibly, securely and sustainably. Including data destruction, recycling and remarketing.
Lot 1 – Domestic, General and Recycling Waste
Lot 2 – Clinical Waste
Lot 3 – Reusable Sharps Waste
Lot 4 – Confidential Waste
Lot 5 – Total Waste Management
Lot 6 – IT Asset Disposal (ITAD)
Lot 1 Domestic, General and Recycling Waste
Mitie Waste and Environmental Services Limited
SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK Ltd
Lot 2 Clinical Waste
Andy Higgins
Mitie Waste and Environmental Services Limited
Lot 3 Reusable Sharps Waste
Lot 4 Confidential Waste
Mitie Waste and Environmental Services Limited
Lot 5 Total Waste Management
Mitie Waste and Environmental Services Limited
SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK Ltd
Lot 6 IT Asset Disposal (ITAD)
Merseyside and Cheshire Clinical Waste Consortium
The Challenge
A number of our Members within the North West region were participants in a previously negotiated agreement for clinical waste which was expiring in March 2013. As an active Member of HealthTrust Europe, Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust played an integral part in encouraging interest across the region for participation in a collaborative exercise to renew the current arrangement.
Brian Burge who represented the Trust confirmed the need to do this by saying
“The previous Clinical Waste Framework had expired and HTE agreed to facilitate access to their Framework Agreement for both member and non-member Trusts in the Cheshire and Merseyside area via a mini-competition. Warrington & Halton were happy to organise and host some of the meetings”.
The Process/Approach
Following an initial presentation to a collective group of Facilities and Procurement colleagues in late November 2012, a programme and timetable of activities was proposed and 13 neighbouring Trusts were divided into 2 specific Lots which were designated as Acute and Community sites, a decision which was based upon the forecasted market response to the procurement process.
Due to the Framework currently in place within the contract portfolio of HealthTrust Europe, timescales for the programme were significantly reduced and a Mini-Competition process was adopted by Harpreet Rupal, the lead responsible for this category.
Harpreet explained the benefits of this methodology by confirming
“The overall Framework acts a facility to complete a bespoke process which is compliant with EU Legislation but removing the timescales of a full exercise. Defined lists of providers who have been accepted onto the Framework were automatically included in the Mini-Competition, also saving them time and effort by adopting this process”.
Results
Input from each of the Trusts was paramount to the development of the specification and other subsidiary documents for the tender process. Both Andy Johnson from The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust and John Foley representing Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust and Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust were integral to the continuity of the programme timetable and their extensive knowledge of this category proved invaluable throughout the period of award. In recognition of the number of participants and as an aid for effective communication, a bespoke page and ‘log in’ was established on the Salesforce platform managed by HealthTrust Europe to improve communication. Tracking of all developments within the programme were live and visible for multiple contribution which was acknowledged by John who confirmed the necessity of customer input as being integral to the programme “Some stakeholders could not attend and we wanted to ensure those not present could see latest versions of tender documents, plus the changing waste and procurement landscape had driven changes that needed to be encompassed”. Invariably whilst ensuring compliance with the legislation surrounding the award of this category, the collaborative membership was cognisant in these times of financial challenge within the NHS of cost improvement. In recognition of this a challenging savings target of 15% was established for the overall amalgamated expenditure, this was surpassed when the final contract award was made to SRCL with an average saving across all members being reported as a 31% reduction on current spend.
Member Testimonial
Andy Johnson representing The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust summarised the overall benefit of participating in the process as
“Considering the varied service requirements of the Acute and PCT Trusts I found, with the help of HealthTrust Europe, the consortium’s collective collaboration was essential and also commendable that the tendering process was completed within the tight time frame. It was ideal that each Trust could benefit from the competitive waste market to make savings and an excellent opportunity for us to investigate the additional services being offered and source a company who could process our waste with the minimum environmental impact”.
For more information, contact our Customer Care Team on 0845 887 5000 or email customercare@htepg.com
Situation
Cheshire and Merseyside NHS Trusts (C&M) have held a consortium contract for clinical waste with HealthTrust Europe (HTE) for approximately 9 years. In 2017, HTE commenced discussions with the consortium members to embark on a mini-competition procurement process for the renewal of their clinical waste contract.
HTE project managed and ran the procurement process over 10 months. Initially the requirement was for a sole supplier to provide clinical waste services to 13 NHS Authorities in the region for Acute, Mental Health Specialist and Community healthcare. Due to new hospitals being built in the region there was an additional requirement for Authorities to join the contract at varying times when services were needed. The awarded contract secured a further 3 years of supply at a cost neutral position for each member. The members retained the same pricing for an 8-year term and Key Performance Indicators were introduced which were fully aligned with all member requirements.
Challenge
In recent years there has been an increase in the volume of clinical waste being produced. During the last 18 to 24 months, unforeseen issues in the supplier market, coupled with the effects of Brexit and the pandemic have resulted in:
- An increase in waste (in particular incinerated waste)
- A lack of infrastructure investment
- Intense competition for drivers due to decreased availability
- Missed collections leading to the build-up of waste at hospital sites
To address these challenges, the Chief Executives of the Trusts within the Cluster required a market review of the contract, so invited HTE to submit a proposal.
Solution
HTE recommended introducing a new contract offering 2 separate solutions – Lot 1 for Acute Trusts and Lot 2 for Mental Health and Community Trusts. This allowed the service requirements of each group to be catered for and removed the restrictions of the current framework agreement in relation to award structure and awarded suppliers. All suitable potential suppliers in the market, including new entrants, could then bid for the two contracts. We recognised that, whilst each Authority had specific, individual requirements, there is a strong open relationship between them all, and a requirement to be treated as one organisation.
HTE advertised the opportunity to potential suppliers through a Prior Interest Notification (PIN) as part of the pre-market engagement exercise prior to releasing a tender. This provided visibility of the requirements and timescales to suppliers, enabling them to make informed recommendations and propose possible solutions prior to final requirements being set. This approach ensured the consortium received proposals from the most suitable suppliers and reduced clarification requests during the process. HTE and stakeholders from the Cluster presented to several suppliers who had expressed interest, inviting their feedback on the tender structure.
Result
Following a Pre-Market Engagement meeting with suppliers, HTE representatives engaged in regular dialogue with the nominated stakeholder group for the Cluster. Tender documentation was drafted and provided to stakeholders for review, ensuring it represented their requirements. As part of our commitment to driving better services through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and SME strategies, the C&M Social Value requirements were adopted within the tender requirements.
HTE managed the tender process and evaluated the commercial elements of the bids. The Trust Members evaluated the technical elements and moderation sessions were held to conclude the scoring. The awarded suppliers from this process are Stericycle for Lot 1 and Sharpsmart for Lot 2. Implementation will take place during Q2, 2022. HTE will support the Trusts and awarded suppliers to ensure a smooth transition to the new contract. This includes the agreement of new KPIs, onboarding the new supplier (Sharpsmart) and refreshing the service offering provided by the incumbent supplier (Stericycle) to align with the new contract.
Contact the Customer Care team on telephone 0845 887 5000 or email customercare@htepg.com to arrange participation
