Procurement Transformation Programme

Skipton House
80 London Road
London
SE1 6LH

To Directors / Heads of Procurement

Trusts in NHS England

18 August 2017

Dear Colleagues
Update on the Department of Health Procurement Transformation Programme
Over the last four months, the Department of Health (DH) Procurement Transformation
Programme (PTP) stakeholder engagement team has been engaging with NHS Trust procurement
teams across England, in a series of face to face meetings to describe the replacement of the
current NHS Supply Chain with the Future Operating Model (FOM).
The procurement element of the NHS Supply Chain has been split into 11 logical category
groupings known as Category Towers. Each Category Tower will be managed by one service
provider. The Category Tower for Office Solutions will be the first tower to go live in October of this
year.
The chosen service provider for the Office Solutions Category Tower is Crown Commercial Service
(CCS) which currently provides an integrated office procurement solution to 17,000 customer
organisations across the public sector. CCSs market knowledge and buying expertise is expected
to drive savings for the NHS of at least 4m during the three years of the initial contract period
whilst maintaining high levels of quality. CCS is also incentivised to achieve a greater savings
figure for the NHS.
CCS will take a period of time to put in place new contracts and pricing arrangements, although
you will not experience a loss of product or reduction in service levels. CCS has committed to
delivering 550,000 savings in the first year, so trusts should expect price reductions and savings
opportunities to gradually come into place during this period. Detail on which products will deliver
these savings is currently being analysed.
From an operational perspective, those trusts already using the NHS Supply Chain catalogue will
see no change in the range of products and services on day one. It is anticipated there will be a
phased approach to any changes and each trust will be contacted with more information as these
roll out. For trusts not currently buying office supplies from NHS Supply Chain, we are asking you
to review current arrangements in anticipation of switching to NHS Supply Chain when possible.
The DH PTP team have been working closely with NHS Improvement which is supportive of this
approach to leveraging the buying power of the whole NHS. We have been jointly driving the
Nationally Contracted Products (NCP) programme as a precursor to the FOM implementation as
the objectives are aligned.
Over time there will be a need for trusts to support and drive product switching as product ranges
are updated and better pricing becomes available across a range of items. More details about this
and the overall strategy and operation of this Category Tower and the FOM will be provided over
the next six to eight weeks.
What next? We will continue our engagement with you over the coming weeks and months on all
aspects of the FOM, providing regular updates and information including a communications pack
about the CCS launch during September. We are organising a series of interactive webinars where
the intention is to share progress and respond to your queries in real time. We are also planning
regional meetings during the autumn for you and your team to attend.
In the intervening period, please feel free to raise any queries you have with the PTP by emailing
fom@dh.gsi.gov.uk. A web presence for the PTP is currently in development.
This is the start of an exciting period for the PTP as we see the FOM take shape and become a
reality. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support to date. The programme
team and I look forward to further and more regular engagement with you and your teams.
Yours sincerely

Howard Blackith
Procurement Transformation Programme Director