CPV 33 Medical equipment

About CPV 33

CPV 33 is the Common Procurement Vocabulary division that covers medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products. It is the dominant CPV division across NHS procurement, covering everything from ward consumables and personal protective equipment through diagnostic devices and surgical instruments to high-cost capital equipment such as MRI scanners, CT scanners, linear accelerators, and robotic surgical platforms. The division also encompasses pharmaceuticals (33-6 group), in-vitro diagnostics, dental equipment, ophthalmology hardware, and orthopaedic and rehabilitation devices. CPV 33 procurement is concentrated in the NHS but extends to local authority adult social care equipment, prison healthcare provision, and Ministry of Defence medical materiel.

The buyers using CPV 33 are dominated by NHS Supply Chain (the central NHS procurement entity that handles the bulk of NHS commodity and equipment purchasing), NHS England (for national strategic device programmes and screening), individual NHS Trusts (for local capital equipment refresh and specialty-specific devices), Integrated Care Boards (for cross-system pathway procurements), and the Department of Health and Social Care (for national strategic stockpiles and pandemic preparedness). NHS Shared Business Services operates several medical-equipment frameworks. Crown Commercial Service has a smaller role under CPV 33 than in non-healthcare categories, with CCS frameworks typically used only for corporate and infrastructure adjuncts to clinical procurement.

Active CPV 33 tenders

The active opportunity flow under CPV 33 reflects the rolling capital and consumable cycles of the NHS. Major capital equipment refresh competitions run continuously at trust level for imaging equipment, theatre lights and integration systems, endoscopy stacks, and ventilator fleets. National programmes drive periodic large-scale procurements: cancer screening programmes generate diagnostic device procurements; the digital pathology rollout generates whole-slide-imaging procurements; the cardiovascular disease prevention programme generates wearable monitoring device procurements. NHS Supply Chain operates rolling framework refreshes across hundreds of consumable and equipment categories. Pharmaceutical procurement runs through Commercial Medicines Unit competitions for the largest-volume generic medicines and through individual specialised commissioning awards for high-cost speciality therapeutics.

Active sub-category	Typical procurement route	Primary buyer pattern
Capital imaging equipment	Bespoke restricted	Individual NHS Trust
Ward consumables	National framework	NHS Supply Chain
Specialised pharmaceuticals	Commissioned competition	NHS England specialised
Diagnostic devices	Framework or bespoke	NHS SBS or trust
Adult social care equipment	Local authority framework	Council or care provider

Top buyers procuring CPV 33

The dominant buyer under CPV 33 is NHS Supply Chain, which handles the aggregated commodity and equipment procurement for the entire English NHS at considerable scale. Individual NHS Trusts run their own capital equipment programmes, with the largest acute trusts (Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Imperial College Healthcare, Guy's and St Thomas's, University Hospitals Birmingham, Leeds Teaching Hospitals, and similar) running continuous capital refresh programmes worth tens of millions per trust per year. NHS England runs national strategic device programmes, particularly for screening, rare disease therapeutics, and pandemic preparedness. The Department of Health and Social Care runs the national strategic stockpile and pandemic-preparedness procurement. Local authority adult social care commissioners procure community equipment, telecare hardware, and rehabilitation devices.

Typical contract values under CPV 33

CPV 33 contract values cover an exceptionally wide range. Ward consumable framework call-offs are typically priced per-item with no formal individual contract value, aggregating to hundreds of thousands of pounds per trust per consumable category per year. Mid-range capital equipment competitions (single MRI scanner, single surgical robot installation) typically sit in the 1 million to 5 million pound range per individual award including installation and initial service. Major multi-equipment refresh programmes (whole-trust imaging refresh, theatre integration programme) typically sit in the 5 million to 50 million pound range. The largest CPV 33 procurements, covering national framework refreshes, multi-site managed-equipment-service arrangements, or speciality pharmaceuticals national supply, regularly exceed 500 million pounds in lifetime contract value, with the very largest national agreements reaching multi-billion-pound scale across their full duration.

Compliance and certifications for CPV 33 bidders

Medical equipment procurement carries the most demanding compliance regime in UK public sector procurement. UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) marking is mandatory for medical devices placed on the UK market from the transition end-date set by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency; CE marking with appropriate UK indication remains transitionally acceptable for many device classes. ISO 13485 (quality management for medical devices) is the de-facto entry requirement for manufacturers; ISO 14971 (risk management for medical devices) is requested on most competitions. NHS Supply Chain requires registration on the NHS eMarketplace and the supplier-onboarding portal. Cyber security compliance for connected devices requires the DTAC (Digital Technology Assessment Criteria) submission and increasingly the new NHS Cyber Resilience standard. Pharmaceutical suppliers require MHRA Wholesale Dealer Authorisation, Good Distribution Practice certification, and product-specific marketing authorisation evidence.

Frequently asked questions

How do I sell medical equipment to the NHS?

The primary route depends on the equipment category. For consumables and standard-catalogue equipment, the route is through NHS Supply Chain framework approval, which involves competing for inclusion in the relevant Supply Chain category framework when it is competed. For capital equipment, the route is through bespoke trust-level competitions advertised on Find a Tender and through NHS SBS frameworks for the categories SBS covers. For specialised commissioning equipment used for nationally commissioned services, the route is through NHS England specialised commissioning procurement. SMEs should engage early with the NHS Innovation Accelerator, NICE early value assessment, and SBRI Healthcare innovation programmes for novel devices that need adoption evidence.

What is the difference between NHS Supply Chain and NHS Shared Business Services for CPV 33?

NHS Supply Chain is the central procurement and logistics organisation that handles the operational supply of consumables, medical devices, and standard equipment to NHS trusts at considerable annual scale. It operates as a buying entity that aggregates national demand and supplies trusts through a managed distribution network. NHS Shared Business Services is a procurement framework operator that establishes framework agreements that trusts can call off from independently. The two have complementary roles: Supply Chain handles commodity and equipment supply at scale; SBS provides framework infrastructure for trusts buying outside Supply Chain's scope or for specialist categories where trust-level competition makes sense.

How does the Medical Device Regulation affect CPV 33 procurement?

The UK regulatory regime for medical devices follows the Medical Devices Regulations 2002 as amended, with the MHRA acting as the competent authority. The UKCA mark is the UK conformity mark, replacing CE marking in the long term, although CE-marked devices remain transitionally acceptable for many device classes during the implementation period set by the MHRA. The Software as a Medical Device regime requires conformity assessment for in-scope software, which has implications for CPV 48 cross-codes carrying medical software products. NHS buyers require device-class declarations and conformity evidence as standard tender attachments under CPV 33.

Are pharmaceutical procurements treated differently from medical equipment under CPV 33?

Yes. Pharmaceutical procurement, falling under the 33-6 group within the division, follows a distinct procurement and reimbursement regime. The Commercial Medicines Unit within NHS England runs the major generic medicines procurement programme. Specialty and high-cost medicines are procured through NHS England specialised commissioning. NICE technology appraisals and the new NICE early value assessments influence the procurement pathway by establishing the funded indications. Pharmaceutical suppliers require MHRA marketing authorisation for each product, alongside the standard supplier-side certifications (GMP, GDP, wholesale dealer authorisation) that medical-equipment manufacturers do not face.