Technical FM expertise for Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, UK
The Trust's existing Soft FM contract had reached the end of its service life. Working closely with the facilities team, we developed a set of procurement documents inclusive of a detailed service specification, reflective of best practice, to enhance the future delivery of soft services across the estate.
Who is the client?
Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is a leading provider of eye health services in the UK and a centre of excellence for ophthalmic research and education, delivering world leading specialist eyecare across 30 sites in and around London.
The challenge
The existing Soft FM contract had reached the end of its service life and a set of documents were required that reflected best practice and guidance in delivering those soft services across the estate.
The Trust have a small FM team with a diverse and complex estate, so they needed additional resource to engage with key stakeholders and draft the documents. The shared procurement service also needed additional technical expertise to develop the service specifications.
Finding a solution
Dr Rachel Dick FRICS, Associate Director of Estates and Facilities Management Services supported the Head of Facilities and Soft FM Manager at the Trust to fully understand the frequency and intensity of use of each site and confirm which sites required which services.
This included collating and amalgamating several data sets from different sources to ensure we could demonstrate to the market the level of planned and reactive service activities that would make up the contract.
Key stakeholder workshops were organised to discuss current service delivery and achieve clarity and consensus over what was required moving forward. This included engagement with Finance team to ensure that the Pricing Schedule was aligned to current invoicing lines and that there were no gaps in what bidders were being asked to price against compared to the current service (i.e. all services and consumables were covered).
A full set of tender documents were completed, containing detailed elements about the level of services required by site and the level of performance required based on the level of clinical activity. The documentation created a set of service specifications that reflected the current service requirements, standards and all relevant legislation while capturing other operational and strategic priorities. For example, we incorporated specific requirements associated with delivering a service in line with the Trust’s Net Zero Carbon targets and Environmental Management Policy including the use of recycled and recyclable products and the avoidance of single use plastics.
To conclude the commission, we supported the team in communicating the new service specifications to the key clinical and non-clinical stakeholders and in developing a board paper and presentation to ensure that the procurement would be approved for release.
What was the outcome?
The documents have consolidated previously piecemeal contractual arrangements and the specifications now reflect current best practice and legislation as well as being produced in a format suitable for use within the CCS framework, the Trust's preferred procurement route.
The Trust are now ready to approach the market with their tender documents and evaluate the responses they receive in line with the criteria established in the procurement pack, with the final outcome resulting in the appointment of a service provider for a minimum of 5 years with the potential to extend.
Rachel possesses very good knowledge of the technical challenges and risks associated with the procurement of Facilities Management services in complex healthcare environments. She has been the catalyst and driver for the FM team at Moorfields to establish robust and thorough Soft FM tendering documentation, is always responsive to our requirements and proactively delivers high quality outputs
Peter Foster, Head of Facilities Management
