General Dental Council: Part 1 Overseas Registrations Examination Service

UK-London: Education and training services.

Preliminary Questions
   This notice is published by:
   Directive 2014/24/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: procurement@gdc-uk.org
       Contact: Erica Williams
       Main Address: www.gdc-uk.org, Address of the buyer profile: www.gdc-uk.org
       NUTS Code: UK

I.4) Type of the contracting authority (in the case of a notice published by a contracting authority)
      Body governed by public law

I.5) Main Activity (in the case of a notice published by a contracting authority)
      Other activity:


Section II: Object

II.1) Scope of the procurement
   
   II.1.1) Title: Part 1 Overseas Registrations Examination Service.
      Reference number: GDC-2019-005
      
   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 1 of the GDC Statutory Examination - Overseas Registration Examinations for a period of 5 months , from 31 January to 30 June 2025 to continue to fulfil the intentions of the original contract by supporting the delivery of examination services. During the extension period an additional 1 diet with a capacity of 600 places will be delivered. This service 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 with Regulations 74 to 77 of the PCR. A procurement for a new contract to deliver examination services for the ORE Part 1 and Part 2 is already underway : Notice reference: 2024/S 000-014888.
   
   II.1.6) Information about lots
      This contract is divided into lots: No

   II.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
      Value: 1,316,564      
      Currency: GBP


II.2) Description

   II.2.2) Additional CPV codes:
      Not provided

   II.2.3) Place of performance:
      UKI LONDON
   
   
   II.2.4) Description of the procurement:
    The scope of services required may include but is not limited to: - Project management and administration of the exam - Design of an exam that delivers to the learning outcomes in preparing for practice (or relevant standard), detailed above. - Delivery of a computer-based exam - Quality assurance and continuous improvement - Candidate management - Relationship management.    
   
   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-2019-005   Lot Number: Not Provided    Title: Part 1 - Overseas Registrations Examination Service

V.2) Award of contract/concession
      
      V.2.1) Date of contract award decision: 22/07/2024.
      
      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:
          King’s College London, N/A
       The Strand, UK-London: Education and training services., WC2R 2LS, 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: Not Provided          
         Total value of the contract/lot/concession 1,316,564         
         Currency: GBP

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


Section VI: Complementary Information

   VI.3) Additional Information:
      To view this notice, please click here:
https://www.delta-esourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html?noticeId=873729087
GO-2024724-PRO-26981373 TKR-2024724-PRO-26981372   
   VI.4) Procedures for review
   
      VI.4.1) Review Body
          General Dental Council
       37 Wimpole Street, London, W1G 8DQ, United Kingdom
       Tel. +44 207676000, Email: procurement@gdc-uk.org
   
      V1.4.2) Body responsible for mediation procedures:
                General Dental Council
       37 Wimpole Street, London, W1G 8DQ, United Kingdom
       Tel. +44 2071676282.

      VI.4.3) Review procedure
      Not Provided    
      
      VI.4.4) Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained
          General Dental Council
       37 Wimpole Street, London, W1G 8DQ, United Kingdom
       Tel. +44 2071676282
   
   VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice: 24/07/2024


Annex D1 - General Procurement
Justification for the award of the contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the Official Journal of the European Union
Directive 2014/24/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)
   The Order 2023 (the Order) came into force on 8th March 2023. The reform that flows from the Order removed the need for the ORE to be provided by a dental authority. The changes could significantly amend the scope of the services and open up the market to new suppliers who were previously prohibited from bidding. Before the GDC can take advantage of the new flexibility, the GDC needed to develop and consult on a new set of rules. The final rules were published in Spring 2024. The extension includes an additional sum payable to the consortium to account for the management and delivery of up to 7 diets across 20 months and 3 days. The additional services had become necessary to continue to allow overseas registrations to continue until the implementation of the rules pursuant to the new Order to allow for a procurement for the services under the updated rules. A change of contractor cannot be made for economic or technical reasons. There is significant preparatory work required to set up the services. This is one of only two types of this exam currently offered in the UK for Overseas dentists. It requires specific technical expertise to run the exam that has to date not presented itself in the market. A change of contractor would cause significant impact and substantial duplication of costs to the GDC. The GDC has a statutory obligation to run the ORE and was required to pause the exam due to Covid 19 restrictions, this has caused a significant backlog of candidates. Candidates only have one five-year period to complete the ORE, they cannot re-apply. Therefore, they would not be able to practice in the UK and overtime may reduce to number of dental professional available to practice in the UK.