Northern trusts issue £250m IT tender

NHS organisations in the North of England have gone out to tender for an IT infrastructure framework worth up to £250m.

The procurement is run by the North of England Commercial Procurement Collaborative, hosted by Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

The three year framework contract is worth between £20m – £250m. It will cover IT infrastructure and hardware services for 43 NHS organisations across the North West, North East, Midlands and East of England including acute, community, mental health and ambulance trusts, as well as Staffordshire and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit and Health Education England.

The tender, issued in the Official Journal of the European Union, says that organisations will have the option of extending the contract for another year, making the total length of the framework contract four years .

The framework consists of five lots: server and storage hardware, software and maintenance; network infrastructure, hardware and maintenance; IT infrastructure solution design and delivery; co-location hosting; and IT infrastructure consultancy.

The tender document says that no more than 35 suppliers will be invited to participate in the framework.

Other organisations covered by the tender include Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Locala Community partnership CIC;  Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust; Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust; The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust and Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

Any eligible organisations which are members of the procurement collaborative will also be able to use the framework.

Requests to participate are due by 7 April.