Framework Agreement for the Provision of Inventory Management Systems

Tender description

The NHS Collaborative Procurement Partnership (NHS CPP) comprises NHS North of England Commercial Procurement Collaborative, NHS London Procurement Partnership, NHS Commercial Solutions and East of England NHS Collaborative Procurement Hub. NHS CPP has successfully delivered a number of projects, including the Total Orthopaedic Solutions (TOS) and Total Cardiology Solutions (TCS) framework agreements. NHS Commercial Solutions (NHS CS) is leading this procurement project on behalf of NHS CPP. The intricacies of managing activity in contracts let under these frameworks, in particular, have identified the need for a means of managing the flow of equipment and consumable stocks throughout the organisation. To meet this need NHS Commercial Solutions, on behalf of NHS CPP, is procuring a framework agreement for the provision of commercial, "off-the-shelf", vendor-neutral inventory management systems to which a number of suppliers will be appointed. The systems will, inter alia, require the capability to  interface securely with existing and future trust systems, including Purchase-to-Pay (P2P), e-Sourcing, catalogue and materials management systems and patient administration systems;  manage the inventory of multiple suppliers, including consignment stock, and the management of items that may be returned to stock after use/sterilisation;  offer approved suppliers access to appropriate parts of the system to allow inventory to be managed in real time;  track assets/products by location, linked to a specific patient, in ward or theatre; and  support patient-level costing and business analytics. Whilst the initial driver for this project is the implementation, into acute trusts, of TOS and TCS, benefits of inventory management are recognised across the wider NHS, including mental and community health. The IMS will therefore need to be scalable to enable delivery to organisations of different sizes and across a number of locations.