Published date: 3 February 2025

Last edited date: 4 February 2025

Closed opportunity - This means that the contract is currently closed. The buying department may be considering suppliers that have already applied, or no suitable offers were made.


Closing: 5 March 2025, 5pm

Contract summary

Industry

  • Research and development services and related consultancy services - 73000000

  • Research services - 73110000

  • Research consultancy services - 73210000

    • Administrative services of agencies - 75120000

    • Social research services - 79315000

    • Business and management consultancy services - 79410000

    • General management consultancy services - 79411000

    • Miscellaneous business-related services - 79990000

    • Contract administration services - 79994000

Location of contract

SW1H 0EU

Value of contract

£364,000,000 to £671,000,000

Procurement reference

CF-2768400D0O000000rwimUAA

Published date

3 February 2025

Closing date

5 March 2025

Closing time

5pm

Contract start date

1 May 2026

Contract end date

31 March 2032

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Competitive dialogue (above threshold)

Tenders are invited from pre-qualified suppliers after discussion of requirements and potential solutions.

This procedure can be used for procurements above the relevant contract value threshold.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

Yes

Description

NIHR's mission is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. Today, NIHR is the nation's largest funder of health and care research and it invests over £1.5bn annually in domestic and international research. NIHR's core workstreams, operating principles and areas of strategic focus are set out in the document Best Research for Best Health: The Next Chapter (2021).

The day-to-day operations of the NIHR are carried out by the NIHR Coordinating Centre (NIHRCC). The NIHRCC is currently made up of the following six DHSC contracts and one Service Level Agreement (SLA):
• NIHR Evaluations, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre (NETSCC)
• Central Commissioning Facility (CCF)
• NIHR Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure (NOCRI)
• NIHR Academy
• NIHR Centre for Engagement and Dissemination (CED)
• NIHR Research Delivery Network Coordinating Centre (RDNCC)

The NETSCC, CCF, NOCRI and NIHR Academy contracts will end on 31st March 2027. Through this procurement, the Authority will put in place contracts in May 2026, with Operational Services under those contracts due to commence on 1st April 2027, in order to ensure continuity of operational services for the NIHRCC. This procurement will however seek to reconfigure the services provided by the NETSCC, CCF, NOCRI and NIHR Academy contracts when they come to an end on 31st March 2027 into a new NIHRCC structure comprised of contracts procured across six Lots.


The Services going forward are divided into the following lots:
Lot 1 - Strategic Business Services and One NIHR hub
Lot 2 - Research Commissioning: Individual Level and Global Health Programmes
Lot 3 - Research Commissioning: Population and Policy Level Programmes
Lot 4 - Research Infrastructure Commissioning: Translational and Delivery
Lot 5 - Research Infrastructure Commissioning: Applied, Public Health and Social Care
Lot 6 - Research Commissioning: Career Development and Capacity Building

The Authority is seeking to appoint a range of suppliers to ensure that it maximises resilience across NIHR and brings to NIHR the benefits of implementing ways of working and best practice from multiple organisations.

Therefore, whilst there is no limitation on a single Tenderer submitting a bid for multiple Lots, the Authority is placing restrictions on the number of Lots any single Tenderer can win, and the Authority will only allow an entity to be involved in one bid submission per Lot. More information on this is set out in the procurement documents.

More information

Previous notice about this procurement

DHSC: National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR): Research Commissioning and Management Services

  • Opportunity
  • Published 3 February 2025, last edited 3 February 2025

Additional text

To express interest and participate in the tender, please register and apply via Atamis e-sourcing portal https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome.

Should Tenderers have any queries, or having problems using the portal, they should contact Helpdesk at:

Phone: 0800 9956035

E-mail: support-health@atamis.co.uk

About the buyer

Contact name

Martin Robbins

Address

Quarry House
Leeds
LS2 7UE
GB

Telephone

01132546070

Email

martin.robbins@dhsc.gov.uk