FAQs – Suppliers (Frequently Asked Questions)

As well as the main page – https://www.supplychain.nhs.uk/suppliers/ – we have pages for Frequently Asked Questions (this page), information for Existing Suppliers, Become a Supplier, the Supplier Portal, our Supplier Board and the ever popular Newsletter.
Use the menu options to navigate to the pages of your choice.

Have you seen our Supplier Newsletter? It’s updated regularly and packed with the most recent updates from around the business and our Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) team.
You can also use the menu options to navigate to different pages within our dedicated News section.

All innovation must go through a single point of entry.
See our Useful Links section for details of the NHS Innovation Service or more details about Product Innovation from NHS Supply Chain within this website.

In order for a product to be listed in the NHS Supply Chain Catalogue, it must be procured through a compliant tender – and if successful it will be listed on a Framework Agreement under the respective Category Management Service Provider (CMSP).
NHS Supply Chain follows a compliant procurement process when purchasing goods for the NHS in accordance with Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR2015). This involves:
• Following procedure where spend is above the Public Contracts Regulations threshold
• Advertising all tender opportunities on Contracts Finder
• Advertising all tender opportunities in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), which can be viewed on the Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) website.
See our Useful Links section for resources including Contracts Finder and TED.
However if your product is a unique and innovative product please go through our single point of entry, see the FAQ ‘I have an innovative healthcare product – what do I do?’

Yes. It’s available on our Existing Suppliers page.

Please find the latest information on our Existing Suppliers page, including details about our eProcurement Portal (for tendering and procurement) which is different to the Supplier Portal that is used for daily activities such as viewing stock position, running regular reports or adding delivery information like tracking codes or shipment notices.

Find the answers on our Become a Supplier page, where you’ll find details about how we can help you to gain a foothold in the healthcare market across the whole of the country.

If you’re already a supplier, you should be added to the distribution list automatically. However, if you don’t receive an email or misplace it, don’t worry – everything in the email can be found on our Supplier Newsletter page on this website.
We also include ‘back issues’, so that you can view the previous issue – or if there’s a particular subject you’re looking for, use the website Search facility.

The latest information, including how to create an account, is on our Supplier Portal information page.

An important forum facilitating regular communication between medical trade associations and senior management within NHS Supply Chain. The latest details can be found on our Supplier Board page.

See our Downloads ▼ section if you would like to see the previous version of this page, which was available as a PDF document.