NP787 General Textiles and Bedding.

Descriptions

National Services Scotland (NSS) acting through its division, National Procurement, is undertaking this procurement on behalf of itself and on behalf of all entities within NHS Scotland (‘Boards’) to procure a service which will provide all General Textiles and Bedding to all Boards ‘Purchasing Entities’) at each of their sites.1.1.The NHS in Scotland requires a contractor to provide General Textiles and Bedding including but not limited to the following:i) General patient garments which currently consist of pyjamas, night dresses, patient gowns;ii) Scrub suits for NHS staff use;iii) Standard bedding flat sheets, pillow cases, blankets and duvets and pillows;iv) Fitted bedding.1.2. The contractor must be able to supply the range of products to all NHS Scotland Health Boards throughout Scotland although it should be noted majority of deliveries are to approximately 10 sites currently. The successful contractor will be required to supply items to a set design and stringent quality specification which, whilst durable and fit for purpose, provides the NHS in Scotland with value for money. They will be required to manage and fully control the supply chain including arrangement of transportation, storage and distribution, along with managing order fulfilment and customer returns. The successful contractor will also be expected to operate an end to end intelligent stock management and order fulfilment system to ensure that short customer delivery time-scales can be adhered to.1.3. The contract will be effective from 1st June for a period of 4 years.1.4. The main requirements of this contract will be to:— Provide garments and bedding to NHS Scotland in line with specification;— Supply and deliver to NHS Scotland Health Boards throughout Scotland;— To provide associated support with laundry operations and product advice to all NHS laundry's;— Provide supply chain management to ensure sufficient stock availability to meet the demands of NHS Scotland;— Provide efficient stock planning and account management including the provision of regular management information;— Ensure all products supply to NHS Scotland are ethically sourced / manufactured;— Provide a environmentally sustainable garment disposal service.1.5. The contractor is required to manage the necessary supply chain to meet customer orders on a 1 week delivery lead time. As part of this, the contractor will be expected to provide robust business continuity and disaster recovery procedures.1.6.The contractor will be required to produce and execute a detailed implementation / migration plan to ensure no interruption to service and product delivery and this may involve necessary purchase of existing stock from the existing contractor.1.7.The Contractor will be required to operate a quality management system.1.8.In line with the UK Government Buying Standards for Sustainable Textiles Procurement, NHS Scotland require the contractor to demonstrate (via the standard GBS question shown below) that all products supplied under this agreement are procured from suppliers (throughout the supply chain) who produce and supply goods which adhere to ethical standards and International Labour Organisation conventions.Government Buying Standards: Ethical standards in productionBidders must provide information to illustrate that suppliers and production sites should hold an independently audited and internationally-recognised standard relevant to the product, in order to demonstrate how they are addressing ethical and social issues such as living wage provision, avoidance of child labour, application of fair trade principles, adequate working conditions, animal welfare in the manufacture of textiles.Verification: Relevant protocols and standards include those by the ILO, Fair Trade Foundation, Ethical Trading Initiative. Indicative standards are SA8000 or ISEAL. Other private or national textile labels fulfilling the listed criteria can also be accepted. Any other appropriate means of proof, such as a technical dossier of the manufacturer or a test report from a recognised body will also be accepted.