NHSE must re-run or scrap contract award after string of errors

The Independent Patient Choice and Procurement Panel has recommended NHSE NW either re-run the award or scrap it entirely after finding the commissioner breached procurement rules.

The IPCPP was asked by Lancashire and South Cumbria Foundation Trust (LSCFT) to advise on NHSE NW’s appointment of Practice Plus Group Health and Rehabilitation Service to run services providing support to vulnerable people with complex health needs before and after they come into contact with the criminal justice system.

The services are currently run by LSCFT, whose contract is set to expire at the end of March this year, prompting NHSE NW to issue a tender notice in April 2024.

NHSE NW received three bids in total, with the foundation trust coming third in the process. But the trust complained to the IPCPP on 2 January 2025, saying it was dissatisfied with the award and how NHSE NW handled its requests for information about its application.

LSCFT argued that its application was not judged fairly by NHSE NW, with the trust raising concerns about how its scores were weighted on several areas of the tender application, including whether it had appropriate staffing levels to set up and run the services, its governance arrangements and how the services offered social value.

The trust also said it had not been able to “explain or clarify” some of its positions on the areas above.

It accused NHSE NW of failing to comply with multiple aspects of the Provider Selection Regime (PSR), introduced by regulators under the Health and Care Act 2022, including Regulation 12 (4) which states that it is within the power of NHSE to provide support to NHS bodies providing or proposing to provide services within the NHS.

LSCFT was also asked to address its exit strategy for its current contract, and NHSE NW did not give bidders the revised TUPE information supplied by the trust.

In findings published on 18 February, the IPCPP said that NHSE NW had breached PSR rules in three areas: 

• It breached its obligation to act fairly by asking LSCFT to address its exit strategy for its current contract;

• It breached its obligation to act fairly and transparently by not giving bidders revised TUPE information supplied by LSCFT; and

• A letter from NHSE NW to LSCFT notifying the trust that it was unsuccessful was “misleading” about the reasons for the decision.

In its conclusion, the IPCPP said: “The panel’s advice to NHSE NW is that it should, at a minimum, invite the three bidders to resubmit their proposals.

“Alternatively, NHSE NW may choose to abandon the current provider selection process.”

The panel’s advice is not binding, but if a commissioner doesn’t act on it, it is likely to be open to legal challenge.

A spokesperson for NHSE NW said: “We have received [a] report by the Independent Patient Choice and Procurement Panel and will be rapidly considering the recommendations and options to ensure these important services continue to be provided to best meet the needs of patients and provide value to the taxpayer.”

Practice Plus Group is owned by Bridgepoint Group, a FTSE 250 Index private equity company managing assets of €67bn (£55.5bn). In 2019 it set up PPG from the healthcare division of Care UK. Bridgepoint last year sold Care UK, whose main business is residential social care.

Alan Milburn, the Department of Health and Social Care’s lead non-executive director, is a shareholder in and adviser to Bridgepoint and has agreed to “recuse himself from any discussions or activity in the department directly related to” firms it owns.