NHS England has published a tender with an estimated value of £307 million for the appointment of a long-term programme delivery partner for the New Hospitals Programme.
The partner is to provide expertise in scheme design, programme and project management and commercial expertise, in order to allow the New Hospitals Programme “to develop a more standardised approach to design and delivery, increase participation from suppliers in the health infrastructure market, and unlock efficiencies and accelerate delivery” in order to help NHSE meet the government’s commitment to build 48 hospitals by 2030.
The procurement notice states that the partner will interface with and support transformation worksteams, giving the example of supporting transfer of learning from more advanced trusts to others. They will also work with NHSE and NHS trusts to ensure that the benefits of the programme are increasingly embedded in hospital design and delivery as they are developed.
NHSE seeks expressions of interest from “suitably experienced” organisations with the capability to deliver a “high profile and important professional services contract”.
The notice also highlights that NHSE intends to procure a digital delivery partner through a separate procurement process, adding that due to the similar nature of the services and the potential for greater integration, NHSE reserves the right to novate digital delivery services to the consultant; as such, digital delivery may form part of the programme delivery partner’s scope of services.
The duration of the contract is 10.5 years, to last until 20 July 2034, and the deadline for receipt of tenders is 19 January 2024 at 12pm.
The procurement notice can be accessed in full here.
Earlier in the year, we explored the latest annual report on the Government Major Projects Portfolio, which noted that £3.7 billion of initial capital funding had been released to support activity around the New Hospital Programme until March 2025.
In other procurement news, we recently covered how Medway Council Public Health has opened a tender for NHS Health Check Software; and that Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB has opened a £1 million tender for digital mental health support for young people.
