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BHTA members supplying healthcare and mobility equipment are encouraged to review a new tender opportunity launched by NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS).
NHS SBS has issued a major framework tender for the provision of Community and Acute Equipment and Services, including continence products and delivery. The framework, reference SBS10525, aims to establish a comprehensive supply route for NHS and social care organisations across the UK. The total estimated value of the framework is £500 million (excluding VAT), running for a period of four years from 4 January 2027 to 3 January 2031.
The framework is divided into five lots:
Community and Acute Equipment – aids to daily living, moving and handling, clinical furniture, patient treatment couches, with associated repair and maintenance services.
Lot value: £500 million (excluding VAT)
Beds and Mattresses – manual and electric beds, static, dynamic and hybrid mattresses, and seating.
Lot value: £500 million (excluding VAT)
Wheelchairs – standard, bariatric, paediatric and portering models, with related servicing.
Lot value: £500 million (excluding VAT)
Combined Lot – a one-stop option for suppliers awarded to two or more lots, supporting integrated or managed service models.
Lot value: £500 million (excluding VAT)
Continence Products Home Delivery Service – supply and delivery of continence and self-care products for use in home settings.
Lot value: £500 million (excluding VAT)
Suppliers may bid for one or more lots. NHS SBS notes that sustainability and social value will form a significant part of the evaluation criteria.
Tenders must be submitted electronically via the SAP Ariba portal.
This framework will support NHS and social care organisations in procuring essential community and acute equipment efficiently and ethically. SMEs, VCSEs, and established suppliers of healthcare products and services are encouraged to review the full tender documentation and consider participation.
For further information, suppliers can contact nsbs.categorymanagementsourcing@nhs.net.
NHS England has released its ‘NHS Social Value Playbook’, a practical 46‑page guide that shows commissioning and procurement teams – and the businesses that serve them – how to place social, economic, and environmental value at the heart of every contract.
Published on 14 July 2025, the document translates policy into step‑by‑step actions across the buying lifecycle, from early planning to post‑award performance management.
Since 2020, all NHS contracts above £5 million have carried a minimum mandatory 10 percent net zero and social value weighting.
Feedback gathered by NHS England, however, revealed that many purchasing teams still felt uncertain about designing meaningful questions, evaluating responses, and measuring delivery, while suppliers wanted clearer, more consistent expectations around social value.
The new playbook responds to both groups by providing usable text, worked examples, and links to templates.
The guidance discusses each stage of the commissioning or procurement journey. It begins with business‑case development, urging buyers to identify which of the government’s eight social value themes – for instance “Fighting Climate Change” and “Tackling Inequality” – can best advance local and national health priorities. It then recommends collaborative pre‑market engagement so suppliers can help refine the brief and flag disproportionate requirements.
For the tender itself, the document supplies example questions and scoring matrices that reflect suppliers’ different sizes and capabilities. Importantly, it allows commissioners to elevate a theme, such as modern slavery prevention, from “added value” to a core contract requirement when risks or opportunities justify the move. This flexibility, the playbook states, is central to making social value business as usual rather than an afterthought.
The final chapters focus on contract management. They show how to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time‑bound key performance indicators, linking them to payment milestones and improvement plans. An annex lists ready‑made metrics – for example tonnes of carbon avoided or number of apprenticeships created – that buyers can lift directly into their agreements, as an example.
“Applying social value provides NHS commissioning and buying teams the unique opportunity to improve patients’ lives and the communities they live in through how we buy and the way we manage contracts,” the guide notes, adding that it can drive the supply chain “to deliver additional social, economic and environmental benefits alongside their commercial commitments.”
The playbook aligns with the 2025 refresh of the UK Government’s Social Value Model and supports the NHS 10‑Year Health Plan’s commitments on sustainability and health inequality.
For companies selling to the NHS – including BHTA members – the document spells out the evidence buyers will look for, stresses that proportionality matters when smaller firms compete, and warns that carbon reduction plans and anti‑modern‑slavery measures may be mandatory rather than nice to have.
Suppliers that embed social value into product design, service delivery, and reporting will therefore be better placed to demonstrate compliance and stand out in future tenders.