New NHS value-based procurement guidance: What BHTA members need to know

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published its new ‘Value-Based Procurement National Standard Guidance for Medical Technology’, setting out a national approach for how NHS organisations should evaluate medical technology and healthcare equipment.

The guidance marks a notable shift away from procurement decisions based mainly on purchase price. Instead, NHS buyers are being encouraged to consider the wider value that products and services deliver across the health and care system.

A wider view of value

The guidance introduces a standardised approach to value-based procurement for medical technology. Its purpose is to help NHS organisations assess the full impact of a product, including benefits for patients, staff, services, sustainability, and supply chain resilience.

For suppliers of healthcare equipment into the NHS, this means tender responses are likely to place greater emphasis on evidence of outcomes, efficiency, and long-term value, rather than relying primarily on upfront cost comparisons.

How the framework works

The framework is built around five value domains, alongside whole life cost. The five value domains are used to assess the wider value of a product or service, while whole life cost assesses the cost of the product across its lifecycle.

The framework can be summarised as follows:

• Social value – generates wider social and environmental benefits
• Efficiency – improves the patient pathway
• Patient and staff – supports patient experience and safety
• Supply chain – has a resilient supply chain
• Purpose – meets the specification
• Whole life cost – includes the purchase cost and post-warranty support costs where relevant

The five value domains combined should account for a minimum of 60% of the overall evaluation score. Within this, social value must account for at least 10% of the total weighting.

Whole life cost should account for a maximum of 40% of the evaluation score.

The five value domains

NHS buyers should select the domains that are most relevant to the medical technology being procured. For suppliers, this means bid materials may need to map product and service evidence clearly against the relevant domains.

Social value

This domain assesses the wider social and environmental benefits generated by a product or service, including carbon reduction, sustainability initiatives, ethical sourcing, and support for NHS net zero ambitions.

Efficiency

Efficiency focuses on improvements to the patient pathway and healthcare productivity. This could include reduced procedure times, shorter hospital stays, increased capacity, reduced waiting lists, or improved clinical workflow.

Patient and staff

This domain considers how technologies support patient experience, patient safety, and workforce wellbeing. Evidence of improved outcomes, reduced risk, better usability, and enhanced staff experience will be increasingly important.

Supply chain

The NHS will assess the resilience of suppliers’ supply chains, including business continuity arrangements, stock availability, risk management processes, and continuity of supply during periods of disruption.

Purpose

This domain evaluates whether a product meets the required specification and performs effectively in its intended setting. Functionality, usability, interoperability, and overall fitness for purpose will all be considered.

Whole life cost

Alongside the five value domains, the guidance places strong emphasis on whole life cost (WLC).

Whole life cost goes beyond the initial purchase price and includes factors such as:

• Purchase costs
• Maintenance and servicing
• Consumables
• Training requirements
• Support costs
• Post-warranty support costs, where relevant

This approach recognises that a product with a higher upfront price may offer stronger overall value if it reduces maintenance needs, improves efficiency, minimises complications, or delivers a longer operational lifespan. For suppliers, clear information on lifecycle costs may therefore become an important part of demonstrating value in NHS tender submissions.

Proportionate procurement and bidder requirements

The guidance states that buyers should select only those value domains and evaluation questions that are relevant to the medical technology being procured. The assessment process should be proportionate to the cost, nature, and complexity of the requirement.

For example, where products are available from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), buyers may choose to use a smaller number of evaluation questions or social value outcomes to reduce the burden on bidders.

Where questions or social value outcomes are used, buyers should provide clear guidance, definitions, scoring methodologies, and sufficient time and information to enable bidders to respond effectively. This may make well-structured evidence, real-world data, case studies, sustainability metrics, and supply chain information increasingly important for suppliers responding to NHS tenders.

Read the full value-based procurement guidance here.