The procurement contact named on the official notice.

North of England Commissioning Support is working for and on behalf of NHS England North West and NHS England/Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board (the Contracting Authorities) and is managing the procurement process for the provision of Diabetic Eye Screening Programmes for East Lancashire and Greater Manchester North and South.

The Contracting Authorities are issuing this Prior Information Notice (PIN) as a Request for Information (RFI) to engage with the market and to gather information in order to gain a better understanding of both the capacity and appetite of the market in delivering the proposed services, and to alert the market to a future tender opportunity.

It is important to note that this PIN/RFI is not a call for competition and as such you will need to express your interest in any future tender opportunity once the contract notice is published in Find a Tender and on Contracts Finder (approximately June 2023).

It should also be noted that this PIN/RFI invites individuals and organisations to express an interest in this RFI exercise only, and it is NOT a pre-qualification questionnaire, and is NOT part of any pre-qualification or selection process.

This PIN/RFI is intended as an awareness, communication, and information gathering exercise.

An expression of interest is no indication of a commitment to participate in the RFI process nor does it infer any preferential or special status on those individuals and organisations who express an interest in the RFI exercise.

NECS is utilising an electronic tendering portal (In-Tend) to manage this RFI and as such interested individuals and organisations will need to register on the portal to access the RFI documentation and submit their completed RFI.

The In-Tend e-Tendering portal can be found at: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/nhsnecsu/aspx/Home Please follow the registration instructions (if you are not already registered) and look for the project NHSE659 Request for Information - Diabetic Eye Screening Programme.

Please note that it is free to register on In-Tend, which can be accessed at any time of day as long as you have a working internet connection.

The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (as amended) may apply to a future procurement including the New Fair Deal non-statutory policy setting out how pensions issues are to be dealt with when staff are compulsorily transferred from the public sector to independent providers delivering public services.

The RFI documentation will be accessible from 18 April 2023 and completed RFI responses must be submitted by 12 Noon 3 May 2023.