The NHS has increased the number of contracts that it advertises for external competition, as it is now required to comply with the general EU procurement regime.
For the first time, the NHS are under a statutory obligation to advertise their healthcare services contracts.
This is a significant change to the UK healthcare landscape, creating new opportunities for suppliers.
The NHS’s procurement of healthcare services has been regulated by the Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition Regulations (No. 2) 2013.
Any contracts for healthcare services above €750,000 (£589,148) must be awarded in line with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 using the “light touch regime” for social services. This “light touch regime” requires:
- Publication of a contract notices in the OJEU
- An award procedure which complies with the EU principles of non-discrimination and equal treatment.
What does this mean?
We anticipate that more NHS contracts will be put out to tender than ever before and NHS commissioners should reflect carefully on the legal risks of not competitively procuring health services. This change presents increased opportunities for private players and healthcare charities to win business with the NHS and public health services.
Read the article here.
At Thornton & Lowe we offer a tender search service to open doors and help to secure new contracts.
We recognise the high quality and valuable services small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) can deliver and we support SMEs to bid for and win public sector contracts. If you are looking for bid writing training, or support responding to a PQQ or tender, then please contact us. You can contact a member of our bid-management team at one of our offices across the UK. Greater Manchester – 01204 238 096, Midlands – 0121 523 1051, Central Scotland – 01334 208 312, North East – 0191 580 0636, London – 203 405 1850 or email: hello@thorntonandlowe.com/
