§ Mr. FatchettTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will set out(a) the list of tendering organisations, (b) the successful organisation, (c) the value of the contract and (d) the criteria used for determining the successful organisation, in relation to the provision of health screening for Benefits Agency staff at their headquarters at Quarry house, Leeds.
§ Mr. BurtThe health screening exercise currently being carried out at Quarry house, Leeds, is part of a three-year DSS nationwide health screening programme due to be completed by March 1994.
For reasons of commercial confidentiality, it is not possible to provide a list of the tendering organisations, but they comprised four private sector health care providers and one national health service regional health authority1.
The successful tenderer was the British United Provident Association—BUPA.
The Department is contractually obliged to pay for each screening carried out on volunteer personnel, aged 35 and over. BUPA's success in encouraging take-up therefore dictated the final cost, which will total almost £3 million.
The criteria used to determine the successful tenderer were:
- (i) financial stability;
- (ii) overall approach to quality to ensure integrity of service;
- (iii) logistical planning;
- (iv) quality of mobile units;
- (v) previous experience of similar programmes;
- (vi) capacity to meet the Department's specification;
- (vii) overall value for money within a predetermined budget.
1 The NHS regional health authority withdrew its bid as it could not provide fully equipped and self-contained mobile screening units.