NHS England is seeking 10 contractors to join a £37bn framework to deliver dozens of new hospitals.
Last month, the government announced plans to build or redevelop 34 new hospitals between 2025 and 2039, with projects divided into three five-year “waves”, as part of the revamped New Hospital Programme (NHP).
Now, management agency NHS England has said it plans to deliver each of the three waves through a single framework, which will last an initial six years but be extended by another six with approval from the government.
The healthcare body said it expects to appoint 10 contractors to the Hospital 2.0 Alliance (H2A) framework, but it could appoint up to 11 or less than 10.
NHS England said in a contract notice on Wednesday (12 February) that the NHP is “urgent”. Call-offs for the first schemes “are intended to be made swiftly” so that “all the H2A contractors on the framework agreement are mobilised as soon as possible”.
The contracting authority for individual projects may be transferred to NHS trusts.
There will be no lots in the framework. Each contractor will be expected to deliver detailed design, construction, commissioning and handover of the major hospital builds outlined by the government, as well as any other healthcare construction work.
According to the contract notice for the framework: “The H2A contractors will provide expertise and experience in construction and integration works on major complex life critical programmes to allow NHP to develop a more standardised approach to design and delivery, unlock efficiencies and accelerate delivery in one of the biggest hospital building programmes in a generation.”
Last month, the government said it expects three new hospital builds to start in 2025, with a further 12 starting by the end of 2027 — including eight worth more than £1bn each.
A full list of the timings of the 34 planned hospital builds can be viewed here.
NHS England said it plans to create a model call-off contract for works procured through the H2A framework via a competition dialogue with tenderers. It then expects bidders to sign up to the terms of the model call-off contract.
Contractors on the framework will be awarded call-off contracts via collaborative allocation, mini-competition or direct awards, with NHS England saying collaborative allocation will be the default where the model call-off contract is considered appropriate.
In its implementation plan for the NHP, released on 20 January, the government said the NHP’s “approach to standardisation, known as Hospital 2.0, has been designed with clinical and operating staff and aims to speed up construction”.
It added: “The standard approach allows for lessons to be learnt iteratively as schemes complete within the programme, creating a repository of knowledge for future projects.
“A hospital built through Hospital 2.0 principles will use sustainable and modern methods of construction designed for manufacturing assembly to accelerate the building process.
“Key to this approach is offering certainty to the construction industry. They are not signing up for one hospital scheme but several hospitals in a rolling programme. In a competitive construction market this level of certainty can allow industry to bid for contracts with the certainty they are in the programme for the long term.”
