Market Engagement - Dynamic Purchasing System for Online Consultation Systems in England

The NHS General Practice Forward View envisaged a future for the procurement of primary care digital services based on national and regionally negotiated buying frameworks. It also signalled an intention to establish a national framework for the cost-effective purchase of e-consultation tools and an investment of £45m to contribute towards the costs for Clinical Commissioning Groups, General Practices and General Practice affiliations to purchase online consultation systems in primary care.

Online consultation is also increasingly a key part of patient pathways in urgent care, and the 111 Online programme seeks to connect patients to urgent care settings following a digital triage. Where possible NHS England is keen that online consultation products are able to bring together a seamless experience for patients bridging primary and urgent care needs.

For example, providing a single digital entry point with the ability to inter-operate with both primary and urgent care settings. NHS England's Commercial and Procurement Technology Support Hub are exploring ideas to establish a national dynamic purchasing system (DPS) for the procurement of online consultation systems.

This DPS, once established, will allow NHS contracting bodies (e.g. Clinical Commissioning Groups and General Practices) to procure online consultation systems in a robust and compliant way on a regional/local basis. As a result, NHS England are engaging the market to gather interest in any potential opportunity and to give interested parties the opportunity to ask any relevant clarification questions about the described process.

Interested organisations should express an interest and download any associated documentation via the InTend e-procurement system which can be accessed via the following link https://in-tendhost.co.uk/scwcsu/aspx/ Home This engagement is an information gathering exercise only, and is intended to inform the development of an approach to supporting the procurement of online consultation systems. NHS England has a desire to alert the market of a proposed approach to procuring such digital services and to gather expressions of interest in participating in any potential upcoming opportunity.

Additional information: Any ensuing procurement process may involve the establishment of dynamic purchasing systems for online consultation systems across England. Any organisation wishing to be invited to competitions for the award of specific contracts for the described services under any established DPS must submit an application and be admitted to the DPS as and when a DPS is advertised. In the event that a dynamic purchasing system is to be established, a separate contract notice will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) to signal this intent.