DHSC: Medical Technology - Compass - Beta phase

Description

Pre-market engagement No formal pre-market engagement process has been conducted. The MedTech Compass project is referenced in the MedTech Strategy: One Year On publication (2024), which outlined our intent to explore a digital solution to support procurement. In addition, the project has been presented at sector-specific conferences aimed at procurement professionals and MedTech suppliers. These opportunities have allowed us to raise awareness, gauge early interest, and gather high-level feedback. Work done so far A Discovery Phase was completed between December 2024 and March 2025, led by DHSC with support from external partners. It involved engagement with 38 users including procurement teams, clinicians, suppliers, and NHS stakeholders. Discovery outputs included user needs, early prototypes, a prioritised feature set, a final discovery report, and a recommendation to proceed to Alpha. The findings concluded that a digital service could support more consistent, value-based procurement across the NHS. An Alpha phase was completed between November 2025 and March 2026, again led by DHSC with support from new external partners. During the Alpha phase, the vision for Compass was iterated, leading to a vision of the service that: 1. Gives users the information they need to choose and justify buying the best MedTech. 2. Shares experience already in the healthcare system about how MedTech performs and how it is procured. 3. Facilitates conversations and proactive sharing of key documents between peers and Trusts. 4. Hosts a directory of MedTech products, showing who has procured them, what they have proactively shared, and how to contact them about it. Alpha outputs included user research, an iterated prototype, a service blueprint, support models, KPIs and a GDS recommendation to proceed to Beta (subject to addressing the amber points within 3 months of beginning the Beta phase). A Beta roadmap was also produced. Which phase the project is in Beta Existing team The supplier's staff will be working with a Grade 7 level senior analyst and SEO or HEO level analyst at the working level. The supplier's staff will also be expected to report to G6, DD and Director level staff on a regular basis to provide progress updates in show and tell format. The suppliers will also be expected to engage with other DHSC teams, the wider healthcare system, in particular, procurement professionals and clinicians in secondary care settings. The suppliers may also be required to engage with the MedTech industry at engagement events. Address where the work will be done Most work can be done remotely, but we expect suppliers to attend occasional in-person meetings or workshops when helpful. DHSC offices are in London (39 Victoria Street) and Leeds (Quarry House), and any visits would be agreed in advance. Working arrangements The supplier’s staff will be expected to work collaboratively with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) team to deliver a discrete Beta phase for a proposed digital solution that supports more consistent and evidence-based procurement of medical technologies. Above allowed character limit so continued on attachment 'Further Information' Provide more information about your security requirements: Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) Latest start date 2026-07-01 Enter the expected contract length: 1 year Extension period: 6 months Special terms and conditions All expenses must be pre-agreed between the parties and must comply with the Cabinet Office (CO) Travel and Subsistence (T&S) Policy. DHSC reserves the right to terminate the agreement where the supplier has not met the deliverables set out in the agreed statement of works. DHSC will retain ownership of the intellectual property rights created during the contract. Write the term or acronym: Medtech Write the term or acronym: VBP Write the term or acronym: PIM Write the term or acronym: NICE Write the term or acronym: MHRA Write the term or acronym: UDI Write the term or acronym: GDS Write the term or acronym: PQP Are you prepared to show your budget details?: Yes Indicative maximum: 1416666 Provide further information: Indicative maximum budget is £1.7m (including VAT). The maximum budget is for the Beta deliverables only. Confirm if you require a contracted out service or supply of resource Contracted out service: the off-payroll rules do not apply Summary of work The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is seeking a delivery partner to support the Beta phase of Compass, a digital service that enables NHS procurement professionals and clinicians to make better, more consistent, and more evidence based decisions when procuring medical technologies. Compass is designed to support value based procurement by improving access to existing evaluative evidence about medical devices, including clinical trials, business cases, evaluation criteria, and trusted central datasets. The Alpha phase has demonstrated strong user demand for improved sharing of this information across NHS Trusts and has confirmed that a document centric approach, focused on surfacing real world experience and facilitating peer to peer contact, meets core user needs. Above allowed character limit so continued on attachment 'Further Information' Where the supplied staff will work No specific location (for example they can work remotely) Why the work is being done The MedTech Compass will provide the NHS with the information it needs to help choose and justify what MedTech to buy - at it's core Compass will help shift the system towards Value Based Procurement. The aim of this work is twofold: first, to design and test a centralised digital solution that improves how product data and evidence are collected, validated, and shared across the system; and second, to support the wider shift to value-based procurement (VBP) by enabling more consistent, data-driven decision-making. The digital solution will reduce the burden on NHS procurement teams by allowing trusted product data to be accessed in one place, and it will embed a standardised framework for submitting and assessing evidence of value, making it easier to compare like-for-like products and evaluate their impact beyond just price. Together, these efforts aim to reduce friction in the MedTech procurement landscape, support more transparent and consistent product evaluation, and ensure that products delivering better patient and system outcomes are prioritised. The MedTech Compass aims to help procurement professionals, clinicians and other users to choose and justify procuring the best value devices available. Above allowed character limit so continued on attachment 'Further Information' The business problem you need to solve The NHS currently lacks a consistent, centralised way to compare medical technology products during procurement. While valuable evidence does exist, it is often fragmented, inconsistent, or difficult to use, leading to inefficiencies, repeated work, and missed opportunities to adopt high-value technologies. Stakeholders across the sector, including NHS trusts, suppliers, Health Innovation Networks, NICE, and NHS England, have repeatedly raised the need for a single, trusted source of product information. Above allowed character limit so continued on attachment 'Further Information' First user type: Procurement manager at a trust (buyer) First user type: Clinician involved in procurement decisions (clinical user) First user type: Innovation or clinical evaluation lead at a trust (innovation decision-maker) First user type: Regional or national commercial leader (system user) First user type: Supplier of MedTech