The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) has signed up software company Atamis to provide a procurement platform.
They have agreed on a £4.5 million contract that can also be used by a range of organisations connected with the DHSC, including its companies such as NHS Property Services and NHS Professionals, community health partnerships, NHS Shared Business Services and an array of arm’s length bodies in healthcare. The latter group includes the Care Quality Commission and Health Education England.
It will also be open to any other body nominated by the department.
The platform will provide a range of functions for the DHSC to manage its procurement in compliance with Public Contracts Regulation 15, including tender creation, issue and evaluation, contract awards, governance and approvals managements, e-auctions, dynamic purchasing systems and data management and reporting.
Existing fragmentation
The contract is aimed at dealing with a fragmented approach to dealing with procurement in the NHS, which has made it difficult for the DHSC’s commercial directorate to collate and manage relevant information.
Several of the national bodies reportedly manage tenders through a BravoSolution system, while NHS trusts can make their own choices.
Atamis has a prominent position in supplying procurement software to the public sector. In June it was signed up by NHS England to provide its pipeline management module to help the organisation implement a business case system configured to meet the approval requirements of its standing financial instructions.
