General Dental Council: Provision of Part 2 of the GDC Statutory Examination - Overseas Registration Examination (ORE)

UK-London: Education and training services.

Preliminary Questions
   This notice is published by:
   Directive 2014/25/EU

Section I: Contracting authority/entity

I.1) Name and addresses
       General Dental Council
       37 Wimpole Street, London, W1G 8DQ, United Kingdom
       Tel. +44 2071676000, Email: ewilliams@GDC-uk.org
       Contact: Erica Williams
       Main Address: www.gdc-uk.org
       NUTS Code: UK


I.6) Main Activity (in the case of a notice published by a contracting entity)
      Other activity:

Section II: Object

II.1) Scope of the procurement
   
   II.1.1) Title: Provision of Part 2 of the GDC Statutory Examination - Overseas Registration Examination (ORE).
      Reference number: GDC-2017-001
      
   II.1.2) Main CPV code:
      80000000 - Education and training services.
   
   II.1.3) Type of contract: SERVICES
   
   II.1.4) Short Description: The GDC intends to extend its existing contract for the Provision of Part 2 of the GDC Statutory Examination - Overseas Registration Examinations (ORE) for a period of 14 months, from 1 April 2022 to continue to fulfil the intentions of the original contract by supporting the delivery of examination services. The extension of the contract will support the reduction of the back log of examinations brought about by the impact of the COVID Pandemic.
   
   II.1.6) Information about lots
      This contract is divided into lots: No

   II.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
      Value: 7,400,000      
      Currency: GBP


II.2) Description

   II.2.2) Additional CPV codes:
      Not provided

   II.2.3) Place of performance:
      UK UNITED KINGDOM
   
   
   II.2.4) Description of the procurement:
    The GDC is the UK-wide statutory regulator and has a statutory duty (under the Dentists Act 1984 (as amended)) to provide a statutory examination for overseas dentists who wish to register as a dentist with the GDC. The Part 2-examination is the clinical examination, which is part of the safety-related test of competence that provides assurance that a dental professional is competent to deliver dental services. The GDC has an obligation to ensure that applicants can sit the clinical examination within five years of having passed the written examination. Given the restrictions imposed by the UK Government since March 2020 throughout the pandemic, it has not been possible to conduct the examinations during this time. As such, some applicants have not been able to sit their clinical examination within this five-year period.    
   
   II.2.5) Award criteria
   (Directive 2014/24/EU / Directive 2014/25/EU)
               
    Not provided       
      
      
   II.2.11) Information about options:
      Options:    No       
   
   II.2.13) Information about European Union funds:
      The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:    No

   II.2.14) Additional information:
    Not provided    
      
Section IV: Procedure

IV.1) Description
   
   IV.1.1) Type of procedure: Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the Official Journal of the European Union in the cases listed below         
   
   IV.1.3) Information about framework agreement
         The procurement involves the establishment of a framework agreement: No    
   
   IV.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
         The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No
         
IV.2)Administrative Information

   IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure:
      Notice number in OJ S: Not provided       
   
Section V: Award Of Contract/Concession
      
Award of Contract/Concession No: 1
Contract No: GDC/2017/001   Lot Number: Not Provided    Title: Provision of Part 2 of the GDC Statutory Examination - Overseas Registration Examination (ORE)

V.2) Award of contract/concession
      
      V.2.1) Date of contract award decision: 04/02/2022.
      
      V.2.2) Information about tenders
      The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No .

      V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor/concessionaire, No. 1:
          The Royal College of Surgeons of England, RC000465
       35 - 43 Lincoln Inn Field, London, WC2A 3HE, United Kingdom
       NUTS Code: UK
   The contractor/concessionaire will be an SME: No    
   
         
      V.2.4) Information on value of the contract/lot/concession:
         Initial estimated total value of the contract: 7,400,000          
         Total value of the contract/lot/concession 7,400,000         
         Currency: GBP

      V.2.5) Information about subcontracting:
         The contract is likely to be subcontracted: No          


Section VI: Complementary Information

   VI.3) Additional Information:
      Provision of contracted services include:

-Deliver the 4 components of the clinical examinations.
-Suitable venues to hold examinations within the UK, suitable to accommodate up to c. 600 candidates per year
-Provision of services, material, equipment, and personnel
-Suitably qualified and experienced examiners
-Project Management and administration
-Candidate Management
-Working with the GDC to ensure the examinations a delivered effectively and in accordance with the examination blueprint and Preparing for Practice and the ORE Advisory Group to ensure the relevant standard is maintained and the continuous improvement of the examination
The GDC is currently planning a re-procurement exercise of the services to commence in 2022.
To view this notice, please click here:
https://www.delta-esourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html?noticeId=648398074
GO-202227-PRO-19608311 TKR-202227-PRO-19608310   
   VI.4) Procedures for review
   
      VI.4.1) Review Body
          General Dental Council
       37 Wimpole Street, London, United Kingdom
       Tel. +44 2071676000, Email: procurement@gdc-uk.org
       Internet address: www.gdc-uk.org
   
      V1.4.2) Body responsible for mediation procedures:
         Not Provided .

      VI.4.3) Review procedure
      Not Provided    
      
      VI.4.4) Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained
         Not Provided
   
   VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice: 07/02/2022


Annex D2 - Utilities
Justification for the award of the contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the Official Journal of the European Union
Directive 2014/25/EU


2. Other justification for the award of the contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the Official Journal of the European Union

   The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive: Yes
3. Explanation

   Please explain in a clear and comprehensive manner why the award of the contract without prior publication in the Official Journal of the European Union is
   lawful, by stating the relevant facts and, as appropriate, the conclusions of law in accordance with the directive: (500 words maximum)
   This services under the ORE contract relates to “social and other specific services” listed in Schedule 3 to the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended) (PCR) and is therefore subject to the ‘light touch regime’ in accordance Regulations 74 to 77 of the PCR.

The Dental Act 1984 sets out the provision of these services can only be delivered by a dental authority, or a group of dental authorities.

In March 2020, owing to COVID-19, a global pandemic was declared by the World Health Organisation. As a result, the UK government introduced containment measures that included travel restrictions, banning of mass gatherings, and educational institutes closing. Under those containment measures and additional ongoing containment measures placed on the NHS, it has meant that no Part 2 ORE examinations have taken place since the start of the pandemic.

At the point a pandemic was declared in March 2020, the GDC was preparing to start the final 2 years of the contract for the services, which was then paused. There is now a backlog of candidates waiting to sit the examination and the GDC intends to extend the contract to resume the examination sittings in accordance with the Dental Act to address this backlog.

The GDC considers that the extension of the Contract is not a substantial modification as defined in Regulation 72(8) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

(i)the modification does not render the contract materially different in character. The services to be provided by the incumbent consortium group will remain consistent and will address the backlog of applications created by the impact of the pandemic

(ii) the modification of the contract does not introduce conditions that would have changed the outcome of the original procurement procedure

(iii)No new suppliers are being introduced to the appointed provider.

(iv)The extension includes an additional sum payable to the consortium to account for inflation, a provision for costs relating to PPE, testing and cleaning etc as may be required and additional the project management services.”


The GDC intends to execute the Contract extension following the expiry of a 10-day period from the date of publication of this notice.