NHS England

About NHS England

NHS England is the national arms-length body responsible for setting NHS strategy, allocating funding to 42 Integrated Care Boards, commissioning specialised services that sit above ICB level, and running national digital and workforce programmes. Following the legislative merger with NHS Improvement and the absorption of NHS Digital and Health Education England functions, NHS England's procurement footprint covers a much broader scope than the pre-merger commissioning body. It is now responsible for national clinical programmes, the Federated Data Platform, the Electronic Prescription Service, NHS workforce planning, primary care contracting policy, and several specialised national procurement programmes that no ICB could run at scale.

NHS England's buying splits into three lanes. National strategic programmes are commissioned centrally and tend to be high-value, multi-year contracts let through full open procedures under the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations or the Procurement Act 2023. Operational and corporate spend follows mainstream public-procurement routes, often through Crown Commercial Service or NHS Shared Business Services frameworks. Clinical and digital programmes are increasingly delivered through partnerships with named NHS Trusts and ICBs acting as lead commissioners, with NHS England providing the funding and policy framework.

Recent awards by NHS England

NHS England award notices appear on Find a Tender and Contracts Finder, supplemented by the NHS Shared Business Services Atamis portal for collaborative awards. Recent award patterns reflect the digital and workforce priorities of the national body. Large digital programme awards have featured around the Federated Data Platform, electronic patient record consolidation, and clinical safety platforms. Workforce procurements include the NHS Workforce Alliance clinical staffing arrangements and the medical education infrastructure inherited from Health Education England. Specialised services commissioning produces a steady run of bespoke awards for tertiary clinical providers, rare-disease therapeutics, and high-cost device pathways.

Recent award stream	Typical value range	Common CPV prefix
National digital platforms	10m to 250m	72
Specialised clinical services	5m to 100m	85
Workforce staffing arrangements	20m to 500m	79
Medical devices and therapeutics	1m to 200m	33
Population health analytics	2m to 50m	72

Frameworks operated and used by NHS England

NHS England both uses and operates framework arrangements. It draws extensively on Crown Commercial Service frameworks for corporate categories (G-Cloud for SaaS, the Network Services framework, Public Sector Resourcing for interim placements) and on NHS Shared Business Services frameworks for clinical and healthcare-specific categories (clinical staffing, medical equipment, pharmacy services, primary care infrastructure). The NHS Workforce Alliance, which NHS England participates in alongside CCS and NHS SBS, operates the national clinical and non-clinical temporary staffing arrangements. NHS England also runs its own specialist commissioning arrangements directly for the highest-cost tertiary services, structured as longer-term provider contracts rather than competitive frameworks. The Federated Data Platform contract is itself the central operational platform that future NHS England national data services will route through.

Common CPVs procured by NHS England

The CPV mix on NHS England awards is led by 85 (health and social work services), reflecting the volume of clinical and care commissioning that sits at national level. CPV 72 (IT services) and 48 (software packages) cover the substantial national digital programme, including the Federated Data Platform, NHS App development, clinical safety systems, and population health analytics platforms. CPV 33 (medical equipment) features around national procurements of specialised devices and screening programme infrastructure. CPV 79 (business services) covers the workforce contracting and consultancy spend, particularly during the post-merger integration work. CPV 80 (education and training services) appears around medical education and continuing professional development commissioned through the absorbed Health Education England function.

Frequently asked questions

How is NHS England procurement different from ICB procurement?

NHS England procures at national level for services that no single ICB could run at scale or that require uniform national delivery (specialised services, national digital platforms, workforce planning, medical education). The 42 Integrated Care Boards procure at system level for the local commissioning of acute, community, mental health, and primary care services in their geography. Some NHS England commissioning is delegated to ICBs through lead-commissioner arrangements, which means the actual procurement notice may be issued by a named ICB but the funding and specification originate from NHS England. Suppliers serving the NHS therefore need to watch both NHS England and ICB-level procurement activity.

What is the Provider Selection Regime?

The Provider Selection Regime, introduced under the Health and Care Act 2022, governs how the NHS arranges the provision of NHS-funded healthcare services. It replaced the previous EU procurement regime for clinical services from January 2024. The Regime provides three procurement routes: direct award (when only one capable provider exists or for incumbent renewal), most-suitable-provider (a structured selection process without formal competition), and competitive process. NHS England runs the central policy guidance and assurance for the Regime; ICBs apply it for their local commissioning. Non-clinical and infrastructure procurements remain under the Procurement Act 2023 rather than the Provider Selection Regime.

How do I become a supplier to NHS England digital programmes?

National NHS England digital procurements typically run through Crown Commercial Service frameworks (G-Cloud for SaaS, the Network Services framework for connectivity, Public Sector Resourcing for interim digital roles) or through bespoke open procedures for the largest platforms. Suppliers should focus on the relevant CCS framework approval, register for alerts on Find a Tender, and engage early with the NHS England Transformation Directorate teams running specific clinical-system programmes. The Digital Health Partnership Awards and the SBRI Healthcare innovation programmes also provide structured entry routes for smaller suppliers and innovators.

Does NHS England use the NHS Shared Business Services frameworks?

Yes. NHS England draws extensively on NHS Shared Business Services frameworks for healthcare-specific categories where the SBS framework portfolio is the deeper option than CCS equivalents. SBS frameworks cover clinical staffing, medical equipment, pharmacy, primary care infrastructure, and a range of healthcare-specific consumables. Suppliers operating in NHS-specific categories should typically prioritise SBS framework approval alongside any CCS framework presence. NHS England's larger national procurements still tend to be let as bespoke open procedures rather than framework call-offs when the scale and specification justify a dedicated competition.