Award

National Air Ambulance Service for The Scottish Ambulance Service

SCOTTISH AMBULANCE SERVICE

This public procurement record has 2 releases in its history.

Award

09 Aug 2024 at 00:00

Tender

16 Dec 2022 at 00:00

Summary of the contracting process

The Scottish Ambulance Service has completed the award stage for the procurement of a national air ambulance service, with Gama Aviation (UK) Ltd selected as the supplier. This contract, named "National Air Ambulance Service for The Scottish Ambulance Service," falls under the health industry category and is intended to serve as a national service across Scotland. The procurement utilized a selective method of competitive dialogue with the contract period beginning from July 26th, 2024. Critical deadlines included the tender period end date of January 19th, 2023, and the supplier selection finalised in July 2024 with an awarded contract value of £241,953,313. The procurement aims to provide a resilient and efficient air ambulance service responsive to Scotland's unique geographical and environmental challenges.

This tender presents significant opportunities for businesses specialising in aviation, medical transport, and associated support services. Large operators capable of providing 24/7 Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) and maintaining a fleet ready to meet Scotland's diverse terrain and weather challenges are particularly well-suited to compete for such contracts. Beyond merely offering flight services, the successful contractor must also deliver comprehensive support including aircraft hangarage, maintenance, engineering backup, and base facilities for clinical staff. This contract thus offers considerable business growth potential for firms with expertise in these areas, especially those equipped to handle the specified technical and operational requirements.

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Notice Title

National Air Ambulance Service for The Scottish Ambulance Service

Notice Description

The procurement of a national air ambulance service for the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Lot Information

Lot 1

The Scottish Ambulance Service ("the Service") provides a national air ambulance service to all of Scotland and its islands. This is the only wholly publicly funded air ambulance service in the United Kingdom and provides an invaluable resource to the public of Scotland. Scotland presents a challenging environment for air ambulance operators. Factors to be considered include: - Varied terrain. - Potentially severe weather conditions. - Longer hours of darkness in winter. - Limited and varying airport capabilities and hours of operation. - Future island transport provisions including ferries and airport developments or changes. - Recognition of the Government targets on sustainability and carbon neutral. - National planning of specialist services for example thrombectomy and major trauma. The aims of the procurement are to deliver an innovative, sustainable, resilient and value for money air ambulance service that can respond to changes in service delivery requirements whilst maintaining a high quality care and experience for the patients and public of Scotland. The future contract is expected to encompass the following elements including but not limited to: 1.The aircraft fleet must be capable of reaching all of Scotland's population. The rotary aircraft must have 24/7 Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) capability and all aircraft must act as a suitable transport platform for the personnel and equipment associated with our adult, paediatric and neonatal critical care transport and retrieval teams (ScotSTAR). 2. Provision of aircraft hangarage in order to ensure 24/7 availability of aircraft during inclement weather. 3. Provision of maintenance & backup. All planned and reactive maintenance must be carried out in Scotland. Backup aircraft to be provided to the same specification as core aircraft. 4. Provision of 24/7 engineering support. 5. Provision of adequate base facilities for clinical staff. e.g., provision of Ops Room space, lockers and parking facilities etc., In addition, meeting room/training room and overnight accommodation (where necessary) for on-call clinical staff. 6. Provision of air crew member training (e.g., Technical Crew Member training for HEMS). 7.Provision of compliant radio communications system. The aircraft must be capable of compliance with the current Airwave communications system (if this is still in operation at contract commencement), and also compliance with the future Emergency Services Network (ESN) system 8. Provision of on-going monitoring of service provision by way of regular contract monitoring meetings. 9. The Service will provide the clinical staffing. The aircraft, flight crew (pilots), estate & facilities and engineering support will be provided by the successful contractor(s) on a managed service basis. 10. The successful contractor(s) shall support a variety of air ambulance missions; ranging from hospital discharges through to pre-hospital helicopter emergency calls and critical care transfers.

Renewal: optional three year extension (7+3)

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-r6ebe6-0000716991
Publication Source
Public Contracts Scotland
Latest Notice
https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=AUG511770
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Tender, Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
OJEU - F3 - Contract Award Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Selective
Procurement Method Details
Competitive dialogue
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
Large

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

34 - Transport equipment and auxiliary products to transportation

35 - Security, fire-fighting, police and defence equipment

60 - Transport services (excl. Waste transport)


CPV Codes

34700000 - Aircraft and spacecraft

34710000 - Helicopters, aeroplanes, spacecraft and other powered aircraft

34711110 - Fixed-wing aircrafts

34711300 - Piloted aircraft

34711400 - Special-purpose aircraft

35112000 - Rescue and emergency equipment

35612500 - Search and rescue helicopters

35613000 - Unmanned aerial vehicles

60424110 - Hire of fixed-wing aircraft with crew

60424120 - Hire of helicopters with crew

60440000 - Aerial and related services

60443000 - Air-rescue services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
£241,953,313 £100M-£1B

Notice Dates

Publication Date
9 Aug 20241 years ago
Submission Deadline
19 Jan 2023Expired
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
26 Jul 20241 years ago
Contract Period
Not specified - Not specified
Recurrence
Contract is for 7 years with a possible 3 years extension.

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Complete
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Active

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
SCOTTISH AMBULANCE SERVICE
Contact Name
Not specified
Contact Email
danielle.welsh@nhs.scot
Contact Phone
+44 01313140090

Buyer Location

Locality
EDINBURGH
Postcode
EH12 9EB
Post Town
Edinburgh
Country
Scotland

Major Region (ITL 1)
TLM Scotland
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLM1 East Central Scotland
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLM13 City of Edinburgh
Delivery Location
TLM Scotland

Local Authority
City of Edinburgh
Electoral Ward
Drum Brae/Gyle
Westminster Constituency
Edinburgh South West

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
1
Supplier Name

GAMA AVIATION (UK

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

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