The Government awards its largest contract: 2 billion euros
Six companies win the tender for the management of Catalan health transport for the next five years
BarcelonaThe public tender for the management of medical transport, the highest of the Catalan Government, already has winners. Six companies and temporary unions of companies (UTE) will share the contract of the Medical Emergency System (SEM) in the next five years, valued at almost 2,000 million euros. These companies are Falck Servicios Sanitarios, the UTE Transporte Sanitario de Barcelona, the UTE La Paz - Direxis Salut, Ivermon Ambulàncies Egara, Transporte Sanitario de Cataluña and Sanir Movilidad Sanitaria.
The contract –in which quality has weighed 70% of the assessment and the economic part the remaining 30%– is put out to tender by the SEM, is divided into 10 lots (each one refers to an area of the Catalan territory) and the winning company of each lot will be in charge of urgent and non-urgent medical transport in that area. A total of 12 companies were present.
Falck Servicios Sanitarios has been the highest-scoring company for the Metropolitana Sud, Girona - Alt Maresme and Penedès lots, and is the only company to have won three lots. Then there is Ivermon Ambulàncies Egara, which has won the lots for Camp de Tarragona and Lleida, and Transporte Sanitario de Catalunya, which has won those for Catalunya Central –initially Falck Serveis Sanitaris had won it, but there is a limit of three lots per company– and Alt Pirineu.
As for the two largest lots, Barcelona city and Metropolitana Nord, they had to have different companies awarded the contract. The UTE Transporte Sanitario de Barcelona and the UTE La Paz - Direxis Salut will take over the service, respectively. The lot for Terres de l'Ebre has been won by Sanir Mobilitat Sanitària.
46 more ambulances
This public procurement offer is based on technical reports that have been worked on at the SEM for three years, based on an interactive map created in collaboration with the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (ICGC). This tool includes demographic and orographic data of the territory and allows determining the "optimal positions" for ambulances, that is, it gives information to relocate or position a new ambulance in the territory to reduce response time in emergency situations and ensure better coverage of the area, according to the Government's statement.
With this tender, the number of urgent medical transport ambulances is increased by 46, reaching 445 contracted. It also includes the contracting of almost 311,000 more hours, which will allow greater coverage of the territory, increasing the number of professionals by nearly 380 more emergency health technicians (TES).
Improvements for professionals
In addition to the management of medical transport, the general director of the SEM, Anna Fontquerni, explained during the presentation of the tender that the contract also includes improvements in the working conditions for professionals, as well as better medical vehicles and better equipment.
Specifically, there will be an increase in the hours of training for professionals, new vehicles will be incorporated (medical logistics support units for the transfer of SEM teams of psychologists, among others) and the advanced life support units will have ultrasound machines and monitors capable of sending clinical data in real time.
