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 Trade Association Engagement Programme and our popular Newsletter.
We manage the sourcing, delivery and supply of clinical consumables, medical devices, capital medical equipment and non-medical products such as food or office solutions. We put our frameworks out to tender, and welcome submissions to those tenders from new suppliers.
Other organisations handle the procurement of buildings, construction, estates / estate management, non-medical IT, clinical staffing and other products not detailed in the previous question. See our Useful Links section on this page, where some of these organisations are included.
We work through various category teams, each specialising in procurement for their own areas of expertise. See our Useful Links section for more details of product category areas and teams.
See our Useful Links section for the ‘Become a Supplier’ page, where you can find more information.
This is not usually possible, once a framework has launched its awarded suppliers remain in place for the duration of the contract. Typically you would need to wait until the re-tender is issued. However, it can be possible to supply through a distributor that is already on a framework.
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 For Suppliers 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.
The latest information, including how to create an account, is on our Supplier Portal information page.
We have a Trade Association Engagement Programme which provides supplier trade associations with a forum to have strategic conversations about common issues across the different sectors that their members operate in. The engagement programme has replaced the Supplier Board. You can find out more about it on our Trade Association Engagement Programme page.