Health services

About the buyer

NHS Midlands and Lancashire CSU is an NHS commissioning support unit, a healthcare body with its own healthcare and non-clinical procurement teams. The healthcare procurement team takes NHS commissioners from market research through bid evaluation to contract award. Clinical services are procured under the Provider Selection Regime, including Direct Award C, competitive and Most Suitable Provider processes. Goods and services are bought through tenders and mini-competitions run by senior procurement managers. Suppliers register and respond on the unit's own eSourcing portal. Purchasing processes have held the CIPS Procurement Excellence Standard since 2019.

UK health spending has nearly quadrupled to £241.8bn in 2024/25, £20bn up on the year before. £140.6bn of that went to procurement, the biggest sector of UK public spending and the fastest-growing.

Over the past 5 years, most of NHS Midlands and Lancashire CSU's contract awards have been in software and information systems, IT services and communications equipment.