BSW Hospitals Group “Return to Plan” Programme

This direct award is being made under Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023 on the basis of technical reasons.

The requirement is for immediate senior financial turnaround support to assist BSW Hospitals Group in delivering its 2026/27 Return to Plan Programme. The requirement is not for generic consultancy support, but for specialist turnaround expertise capable of providing immediate challenge, assurance and delivery support across the Group.

The proposed adviser has previously worked within the system on financial turnaround and improvement initiatives and has established knowledge of the financial, operational and governance context across Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust and the wider BSW Hospitals Group. This includes direct understanding of the financial recovery challenges, governance arrangements, organisational structures, reporting mechanisms and key stakeholder relationships.

The adviser can therefore mobilise immediately without the need for a prolonged discovery, familiarisation or relationship-building phase, enabling rapid deployment of grip and control measures, forecasting assurance, reporting improvements and in-year recovery actions.

The Group has considered whether an open tender, Competitive Flexible Procedure or alternative framework route would be proportionate. However, those routes would introduce delay, mobilisation risk and loss of continuity at the point when corrective action must be implemented to influence the 2026/27 financial position. Whilst alternative suppliers may offer generic turnaround capability, they would not reasonably be expected to provide the same combination of established financial turnaround expertise, prior local system knowledge, immediate mobilisation capability and executive-level credibility required for this specific in-year recovery requirement.

The Contracting Authority therefore considers that the proposed supplier is uniquely positioned to deliver the required services and that a direct award represents the most proportionate and effective route to secure the required outcomes.