UK Government seeks views on change to key procurement guidelines

Chris Whitehouse, a political consultant and expert on medical technology policy and regulation at Whitehouse Communications, an advisor to MedTech suppliers, chair of the Urology Trade Association, and governor of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, encourages the MedTech sector to engage with the latest Cabinet Office consultation on soon to be implemented procurement guidelines.

The Cabinet Office of the UK Government, which oversees procurement rules, is consulting about changes to the National Procurement Policy Statement [NPPS] produced by the previous administration, with a deadline for comments of just 4^th November.

The NPPS stems from the Procurement Act 2023 – which aims to create a simpler and more transparent regime for public sector procurement. The NPPS is a statutory statement setting out the strategic priorities for procurement across the public sector to which contracting authorities, including NHS trusts, are required to have regard.

The NPPS was supposed to come into force this October, but in September it was announced that it was delayed until February 2025, as the Cabinet Office believed that the initial NPPS draft was not meeting the challenge of applying the full potential of public procurement to deliver value for money, economic growth, and social value.

The new consultation asks four open questions, with which MedTech innovators, manufacturers and suppliers should promptly consider engaging:

1. Maximising value for money: How can mission-driven procurement help us achieve greater value for money for the taxpayer in the delivery of public services?
2. Delivering social value: How can we use public procurement to achieve greater social value to support delivery of the missions?
3. Enabling collaboration: How can we accelerate collaboration in public procurement (between central and local government, between local anchor partners (e.g. in health and education) and in partnership with suppliers), to support delivery of the missions?
4. Fostering innovation: How can we help policy-makers/commissioners identify challenges that can be put to the market to support mission outcomes through innovation, and improve commercial capability to deliver mission-driven procurement?

The consultation is an opportunity both to make positive points about the benefits of Value Based Procurement to which the NHS in England is now committed, and to record concerns about the government’s attempt to reform Part IX of the Drug Tariff which is the well-established home for MedTech devices prescribable through the NHS.

Comments upon or questions about this article can be addressed to chris.whitehouse@whitehousecomms.com