NHS London Procurement Partnership has published details of a wide ranging procurement framework covering non-clinical IT and telecoms products and services.
The new framework is split into nine lots covering consultancy, network infrastructure, hardware, software, cybersecurity, hosting, operational services, interoperability and interfacing and IT managed services.
Many of the lots are split into further categories, with software’s nine sub-lots including finance, customer relationship management and innovation, the last covering robotic process automation, chatbots, artificial intelligence and blockchain.
The partnership said that the £3 billion listed value of the procurement is a top end estimate, but reflects market research and consultation with its member trusts and suppliers, as well as the fact that the framework will be open for use by any UK public sector organisation. While the framework will last for four years, contracts formed through it can last up to a decade.
The framework, published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 6 June, is open to suppliers until 17 July, with decisions on participants planned to follow by the end of August.
The London Procurement Partnership lists 79 members including many London NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups, such as Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London Ambulance Service NHS Trust and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. It also has members from elsewhere in England including Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Blood and Transplant.
Image of south wing of St Thomas’ Hospital in London by Garry Knight via Flickr. Used under a Creative Commons licence.
Correction on 10 June; framework to initially run for four years rather than two
