- NHS England publish procurement notices for almost £30bn in specialised service contracts
- Under EU law the national commissioner is required to give notice when it intends to award a contract worth more than £615,278
NHS England has published procurement notices for specialised services contracts worth around £28bn over two years.
The prior information notices, which appear to cover all specialised services in England, were published on 14 August in the Official Journal of the European Union. They state there would be an option for NHS England to extend the contracts for a further two years.
The notices follow new EU regulations that came into effect in 2016, in which public bodies are required to give notice of its intention to award any contract with a value higher than £615,278.
The public notices signal an intent to award whole contracts for 2019-21 to the incumbent providers, unless expressions of interest are received from alternative operators, triggering a competitive process.
Industry sources have previously told HSJ that private providers were unlikely to bid for specialised contracts, partly because of the way services are bundled into different lots.
The tenders are split into 20 different lots, across four regions, and total £7.6bn for the South of England, £10.8bn for London, £9.4bn for the Midlands and East and £862m for the North of England.
Expressions of interest must be received by 14 September 2018.
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