NHS England Sets June Date For PCS Contract

NHS England is aiming to complete its transition to its Primary Care Support (PCS) services contract by June.

A final agreement for the £1bn contact is expected to be signed with the chosen vendor in May, although this most likely will not occur until after the General Election.

The health service anticipates a “slowdown” in government business during this time, but does not believe this will affect its ability to implement the contract.

PCS intends to drive operational savings within NHS England Trusts via improved service consistency within operations.

Intended to be in place by early Spring, three companies have now been shortlisted to bid for the ten-year contract.

Those in the short list are Capgemini with the South East Commissioning Support Unit, Capita with Anglian Community Enterprise and Equiniti.

“NHS England committed to transition PCS services by the end of June 2015. NHS England will work with the preferred bidder for PCS to be ready for award of contract in May as agreed by the board in December,” claimed the organisation.

“This procurement represents a significant saving on administrative functions, releasing funds to front line services,” it added.

Building Consistent Services

NHS England received responsibility for PCS services in April 2013 and the board decided to outsource these needs last July through open market procurement.

It claims the project is designed to provide a more uniform, nationally-specified and consistent quality of safe service that engages staff and stakeholders to utilise expertise and knowledge.

It also hopes it will be able to maintain business continuity, value for money and safety for our customers.

The health services also claimed that the anticipated post-General Election signing of the contract had not been intentionally planned when it first launched the tender.

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