Official UK procurement notice
Contracts for Innovation Cymru - Reducing Missed Appointments and Improving Access to Planned Care
Authority: NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership-Procurement Services (hosted by Velindre University NHS Trust) (NHS & healthcare)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionChallenge Overview
Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board (CTM UHB) experiences persistently high rates of missed outpatient appointments, with approximately 64,000 appointments missed over the last 12 months. These missed appointments create challenges for patients and services alike, contributing to longer waiting times, underutilised clinical capacity, financial inefficiencies and poorer patient experience.
CTM estimates that missed appointments may account for approximately £9.6 million of avoidable lost value each year, representing a significant opportunity to improve both patient access and the use of NHS resources.
Evidence suggests that non-attendance is often linked to a range of practical, behavioural, communication and accessibility barriers rather than a simple choice not to attend. These barriers can include challenges associated with appointment communication, transport, geography, caring responsibilities, socioeconomic factors, digital exclusion, health inequalities and service design.
Contracts for Innovation Cymru (CfIC) is seeking innovative solutions that help people overcome these barriers, reducing missed appointments whilst improving access to planned care.
The challenge is deliberately open and does not prescribe a particular technology, product or service. We welcome ideas from a wide range of sectors and disciplines and encourage applicants to think creatively about how attendance, access and patient experience can be improved.
Read the full description (4,040 more characters)
We are seeking innovative approaches that help reduce missed appointments and improve access to planned care.
Solutions may address one or more aspects of the challenge, including but not limited to:
• Appointment communication and engagement
• Accessibility of information
• Appointment planning and management
• Behavioural approaches that encourage attendance
• Identification of individuals at increased risk of non-attendance
• Travel and accessibility barriers
• Digital tools and services
• Community-based support models
• Service and pathway redesign
• Data-driven approaches to improve attendance and access
Applicants are encouraged to consider how different barriers interact and how solutions may support a diverse population with differing needs and circumstances.
We are not seeking a predetermined solution and welcome a broad range of innovative approaches.
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In Scope
We are interested in solutions that can contribute to one or more of the following:
• Improving appointment attendance and reducing missed appointments.
• Improving access to planned care services.
• Appointment communication and engagement.
• Accessibility of information and services.
• Appointment planning, scheduling and management.
• Behavioural approaches that support attendance.
• Identification of people at increased risk of non-attendance.
• Reducing practical barriers to accessing services.
• Data-driven, digital or technology-enabled approaches.
• Community-based or service redesign approaches.
• Improving equity of access across different populations and geographic settings.
• Welsh language, accessibility and inclusive service delivery.
Out of Scope
We are not seeking projects that:
• Focus solely on increasing demand for healthcare services.
• Are primarily academic or research studies with no credible route to implementation.
• Require extensive fundamental research before development can commence.
• Cannot demonstrate a realistic route to adoption within health and care services.
• Do not consider affordability, scalability or long-term sustainability.
• Rely solely on English-language patient-facing delivery.
• Seek to replace appropriate clinical oversight or professional judgement where this remains necessary.
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Desired Outcomes
Successful solutions should demonstrate potential to deliver measurable improvements in one or more of the following areas.
Patients and Citizens
• Improved access to planned care services
• Increased appointment attendance
• Improved patient experience
• Reduced travel and logistical burden
• Better health outcomes through more timely access to care
• Fairer access irrespective of location, income or personal circumstances
Staff
• Improved clinic utilisation
• Reduced administrative burden
• More effective use of clinical time
• Improved operational efficiency
Health and Care Systems
• Reduced DNA rates
• Improved productivity and service flow
• Reduced waiting times
• Better use of public resources
• Reduced health inequalities
• Improved sustainability and environmental outcomes
Potential measures of success may include attendance rates, service utilisation, waiting times, patient experience, equity measures, operational efficiency and value for money.
Funding and Support
Phase 1 Funding
Funding Available: £200,000 total budget to support a portfolio of projects.
The total funding available for the competition can change and the funders reserve the right to adjust the provisional funding allocations, i.e., should additional funding become available.
Number of Projects: Current funding is available to support a portfolio of projects, dependent upon the number/quality of submissions received.
Portfolio Approach
Funding decisions may be made using a portfolio approach, recognising that complex challenges often require a range of complementary solutions rather than a single intervention. Consideration will be given to the overall balance of projects supported, the evidence generated and the potential for wider adoption and learning across Wales.
- No preliminary market engagement: Suppliers within market known
CPV: Health and social work services · Market research services · Medical equipments, pharmaceuticals and personal care products · Other community, social and personal services · Research and development services and related consultancy services · Software package and information systems
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1Lot 1Published value£200,000
- Value
- £200,000 exc. VAT · £240,000 inc. VAT
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published — the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (3)
- Technical — 87%
- Commercial — 9%
- Social Value — 4%
Published award criteria (3)
- Technical — Technical elements of contract
- Commercial — Overall cost and value for money
- Social Value — Project delivers measurable economic, social, environmental and cultural benefits for Wales, beyond the core requirements of the contract
- Economic & financial standingPlease refer to the draft contract in the tender docs available via: https://sbri.simplydo.co.uk/challenges/6ab12e655d237902d9349089
- Technical & professional abilityPlease refer to the draft contract in the tender docs available via: https://sbri.simplydo.co.uk/challenges/6ab12e655d237902d9349089
Competition analysis · published record, not a forecast of who will bid
How NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership-Procurement Services (hosted by Velindre University NHS Trust) buys Market research services (CPV 7931) — and who usually turns up
NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership-Procurement Services (hosted by Velindre University NHS Trust)’s own published record, next to the Wales (Cymru) market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Market research services (CPV 7931) →
How the contest usually goes
Left: this authority. Right: the market where the work is delivered. Bids and award-vs-estimate pairs are per lot, from contested contracts only — direct awards (including PA 2023 transparency notices) report one bid by definition and are left out. On Procurement Act 2023 notices the count is the tenders assessed at the final stage, not every submission received; pairs compare like with like (VAT-exclusive, or VAT-inclusive on both sides). Empty means nothing was published, not filled in from elsewhere.
NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership-Procurement Services (hosted by Velindre University NHS Trust)
contract notices in 36 months: 1 in CPV 7931 · 5 in division 79 (1 route not published) · 131 in all categories (40 without competition · 15 route not published)
i
How many companies usually bid for work like this.
Middle value of published bid counts, one per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in this industry (CPV 79), last 36 months: 3 lots. All 3 lots are from older notices, which count bids received.
Nothing is filled in from UK-wide numbers. An empty tile means nothing usable was published.
i
How often only one company bid.
Share of lots that received exactly one bid, on the same competitions as the bids figure.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in this industry (CPV 79), last 36 months: 3 lots.
High means a thin market or an incumbent that is hard to beat.
i
Do awards for work like this land above or below the estimate.
Estimate against award per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in all categories, last 36 months: 10 pairs.
A past pattern, not a price to bid.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the deadline to the first award notice, on competitions that published both dates.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in all categories, last 36 months: 9 notices.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
i
How often this buyer changes a notice after publishing it.
Middle number of amendments per notice. Deadline extensions and corrections both count.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in all categories, last 24 months: 69 notices.
i
How often this buyer awards without a competition.
Direct or limited awards as a share of its notices that say which procedure was used. These routes are legal in defined cases. This is just the record.
Based on this buyer’s tenders in this industry (CPV 79), last 36 months: 4 notices.
Wales (Cymru) · Market research services (CPV 7931)
contract notices delivered in Wales (Cymru) in 36 months: 52 in CPV 7931 (49 competed) · 466 in division 79 (362 competed, 47 route not published)
i
How many companies usually bid for work like this.
Middle value of published bid counts, one per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 7931), last 36 months: 27 lots. 13 lots are from Procurement Act 2023 notices (bids assessed, middle 9) and 14 from older notices (bids received, middle 3).
Nothing is filled in from UK-wide numbers. An empty tile means nothing usable was published.
i
How often only one company bid.
Share of lots that received exactly one bid, on the same competitions as the bids figure.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 7931), last 36 months: 27 lots.
High means a thin market or an incumbent that is hard to beat.
i
Do awards for work like this land above or below the estimate.
Estimate against award per lot, for this buyer or this region in the same sector.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 7931), last 36 months: 24 pairs.
A past pattern, not a price to bid.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the deadline to the first award notice, on competitions that published both dates.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 7931), last 36 months: 14 notices.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
i
How much of this market goes to small and medium firms.
SME bidders where buyers published the split, otherwise SME winners.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 7931), last 36 months: 26 lots.
i
How much work like this goes to companies based in the delivery region.
Awards in this category delivered here where the winner’s registered address is in the region.
Based on this region’s tenders in this sector (CPV 7931), last 36 months: 28 awards.
Registered address, so a national firm with a local branch counts as outside.
i
Where this tender’s estimate would land if the usual pattern repeats.
We apply the buyer’s usual movement between estimate and award (or the region’s) to the estimate on this notice.
Based on this buyer’s own usual movement over 10 lots (all categories), applied to the £200,000 estimate on this notice.
A benchmark, not a price to bid.
Coverage and what to read with care
- Each tile explains itself. The on a figure says what it is, how it is counted and which scope this notice’s own record came from (class, division, all categories, or the authority’s 24-month row). The two columns are never blended and nothing is filled from a UK-wide figure; an empty tile means the source published nothing usable. Long form: Methodology.
- Coverage. Roughly 40 % of notices publish a bid count; about half publish an ITL1 delivery location, so the market column reads the authority’s registered region when the notice has none (labelled). About 30 % of award-vs-estimate pairs are exact matches — the buyer published the award at the estimate. n is on every figure; a thin sample is muted, never hidden.
- “Match” and “relevance” are model scores from the nightly matcher, not published facts. Find a Tender does not publish who is bidding. Never shown: contact details, payment behaviour, or a recommended price.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Open for tender
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- No (one-off requirement)
- First published
- 22 Sept 2026, 11:59 BST
- Last source update
- 22 Sept 2026, 11:59 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end — 30 Oct 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07775dFind a Tender- Contract terms summary
- 30 days after approval of deliverables completion
- Risks
- Time constraints Legislatory / Regulatory compliance Failure to complete agreed deliverables to a sufficient standard and within agreed timescales Failure to adhere to agreed budget
How to participate & submission route
Official notice Submit via portal- Expression of interest (EOI)
- —
- Tender submission deadline
- 20 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 16 Oct 2026, 00:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- cy, en
Timeline
5 published dates · Europe/London- Tender notice publishedearlier today22 Sept 2026, 11:59 BST
- Clarification questions byin 23 days16 Oct 2026, 00:00 BST
- Submission deadlinein 28 days20 Oct 2026, 12:00 BST
- Award decision expected byin 38 days30 Oct 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 54 days16 Nov 2026, 00:00 GMT
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Nothing awarded yet- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Tender notice published22 Sept 2026, 11:59 BSTUK4
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (5)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Bidding documents and specifications Reducing Missed Appointments and Improving Access to Planned Care_ Challenge Brief _ English
- Conflict of interest declarationNot published
- Bidding documents and specifications Reducing Missed Appointments and Improving Access to Planned Care_ Challenge Brief _ Welsh
- Technical specifications All technical requirements and relevant documentation can be accessed on the Simply Do Portal
Notices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender