Official UK procurement notice
DAP C Specialist Fertility Services 27/28
Authority: NHS Essex Integrated Care Board (NHS & healthcare)
NHS Essex Integrated Care Board (herein "the Authority")'s intention to award contracts to deliver Specialist Fertility Services to the patients within NHS Essex's ICB geographical footprint. The contract will be for 12 months months from 01st April 2027 - 31st March 2028. However, any innovation must operate within established regulatory and clinical frameworks and should not compromise the quality, safety or effectiveness of care. must be able to provide a donor; alternatively, the patient can be.
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNHS Essex Integrated Care Board (herein "the Authority")'s intention to award contracts to deliver Specialist Fertility Services to the patients within NHS Essex's ICB geographical footprint. The contract will be for 12 months months from 01st April 2027 - 31st March 2028. The aggregate contract values are below inclusive VAT noting that these are zero value contracts – paid at local prices- based on planning values for 2026-27 and will be subject to any agreed growth and inflator/deflators applicable to 2027/28.
Cambridge University Hospital FT £13,383.00
Bourne Hall Fertility £644,727.00
Care Fertility £0.00
Create Health Limited t/a Create Fertility £27,782.00
Guys & St Thomas Hospital £51,737.00
Herts & Essex Fertility Centre £160,414.00
IVI London Wimpole Ltd £51,560.00
The award details for each provider will reflect a nominal £1.00.
The providers are existing providers, who are currently satisfying the requirements of the existing contract. The providers have been assessed against the criteria specified for this DAP C process:
Quality & Innovation 40%.
Quality should be the primary consideration for specialist fertility services due to the highly regulated nature of assisted conception treatment, the clinical risks associated with fertility interventions and the importance of achieving safe, effective patient outcomes. The service specification places significant emphasis on compliance with Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) standards, CQC requirements, NICE guidance, patient safety, live birth rates, waiting time standards and reducing avoidable harm such as multiple births and treatment complications.
Innovation remains important, particularly in supporting improvements in patient experience, clinical outcomes, efficiency and access to treatment. However, any innovation must operate within established regulatory and clinical frameworks and should not compromise the quality, safety or effectiveness of care.
Value 30%.
It is a statutory duty to ensure the best use of public resources, therefore value has the second highest weighting
Integration, Collaboration & Service Sustainability 15%,
It is essential for good collaboration between specialist fertility services and secondary care
Access Health Inequalities and Choice 10%;
Access to specialist services are important to ensure all patients receive the appropriate care and treatment
Social Value 5%.
Although the main focus of the specialist fertility service is to provide healthcare, a weighting of 5% has been allocated to reflect the ICB priority towards the importance of social value
Key criteria were specified, and assessment against each criterion was assessed based as above and on the current service delivery model and performance. and the supplier meets all the requirements specified to the satisfaction of the ICB, and it is expected that they will satisfy the requirements of the new contract.
NHS Essex Integrated Care Board (the Authority) intends to award a contract for the provision of Community Specialist Fertility Services in to the existing providers anmed above following Direct Award Process C under the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023.
NHS Essex Integrated Care Board, acting as the Relevant Authority, is commissioning these services to support will be provided in line with the NHS Essex ICB Service Restriction Policy: Assisted Conception Commissioning Policy.
Further details can be found at II.2.4) Description of the procurement
CPV: Health services · In vitro fertilisation services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1The Authority intends to award this contract via Direct Award Process C under the…Awarded
The Authority intends to award this contract via Direct Award Process C under the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and Procurement Act 2023 do not apply. NHS Essex Integrated Care Board is the Relevant Authority undertaking this process. The services comprise the provision of Specialist Fertility Services. Infertility is defined as a failure to conceive after regular unprotected
sexual intercourse in the absence of known reproductive pathology.
The management of infertility falls into 3 main types:
- Medical treatment to restore fertility (for example, the use of drugs for
ovulation induction)
- Surgical treatment to restore fertility (for example, laparoscopy for
ablation of endometriosis)
- Assisted reproduction techniques – any treatment that deals with
means of conception other than vaginal coitus. It frequently involves
the handling of gametes or embryos and mainly includes in vitro
fertilisation (IVF), intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and Donor
Insemination (DI). The specialist fertility services to be provided to patients fulfilling the eligibility
criteria include:
- In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) with or without Intra-cytoplasmic Sperm
Injection (ICSI)
- Frozen Embryo Transfer
- Embryo/Blastocyst Freezing and Storage (Gametes)
- Surgical sperm recovery (Testicular Epididymal Sperm Aspiration
(TESA) / Percutaneous Sperm Aspiration (PESA) including storage
where required)
- Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) unstimulated
- Donor Oocyte Cycle
- Donor Sperm Insemination, with IVF/IUI. Donor insemination in
following conditions: obstructive azoospermia, non-obstructive
azoospermia, severe deficits in semen quality in couples who do not wish to undergo ICSI, where there is a high risk of transmitting
infectious disease to the offspring or woman from the man
- Oocyte retrieval for patients undergoing cancer treatments –
includes first years’ storage
- Oocyte or sperm annual storage for patients undergoing cancer
treatment1.
- Egg donation where no other treatment
is available: The patient
must be able to provide a donor; alternatively, the patient can be
placed on the waiting list until a donor becomes available. This
waiting list will be monitored separately to the general IVF waiting
list.
- Specialist courier transportation of stored gametes between NHS
providers where an eligible patient chooses to transfer their NHS
treatment. This will also apply to patients choosing to transfer from
a private clinic to NHS clinic in order to comply with the MSE ICB
policy.
The above services shall be provided in line with HFEA regulations
The providers are existing providers of these services to NHS Essex Integrated Care Board and has demonstrated their ability to deliver the services to the required standard, following assessment against the five key Provider Selection Regime criteria.
The contract period is from 01 April 2027 to 31 March 2028. The total contract value for the 2027/28 is £0 and the indicative aggregate value are as previously stated. The value is activity-dependent and may vary over the contract term. The proposed values for the term are shown II.1.4. These are zero value contracts – paid at local prices- based on planning values for 2026-27 and will be subject to any agreed growth and inflator/deflators applicable to 2027/28.
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bourn Hall Clinic | £1 † | — | Awarded |
| Cambridge University Hospital Foundation Trust | £1 † | — | Awarded |
| CARE Fertility Group Limited | £1 † | — | Awarded |
| Create FertilitySME | £1 † | — | Awarded |
| HERTS and ESSEX FERTILITY CENTRE LIMITEDSME | £1 † | — | Awarded |
| IVI London Wimpole Ltd | £1 † | — | Awarded |
| Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust | £1 † | — | Awarded |
Contracts
DAP C - Specialist Fertility Services - 27/28 · Bourn Hall Clinic
- Signed
- 8 Jun 2026
- Value
- £1
- Status
- active
DAP C - Specialist Fertility Services - 27/28 · Cambridge University Hospital Foundation Trust
- Signed
- 8 Jun 2026
- Value
- £1
- Status
- active
DAP C - Specialist Fertility Services - 27/28 · CARE Fertility Group Limited
- Signed
- 8 Jun 2026
- Value
- £1
- Status
- active
DAP C - Specialist Fertility Services - 27/28 · Create FertilitySME
- Signed
- 8 Jun 2026
- Value
- £1
- Status
- active
DAP C - Specialist Fertility Services - 27/28 · HERTS and ESSEX FERTILITY CENTRE LIMITEDSME
- Signed
- 8 Jun 2026
- Value
- £1
- Status
- active
DAP C - Specialist Fertility Services - 27/28 · IVI London Wimpole Ltd
- Signed
- 8 Jun 2026
- Value
- £1
- Status
- active
DAP C Specialist Fertility Services 27/28 · Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
- Signed
- 8 Jun 2026
- Value
- £1
- Status
- active
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1bids · 1 electronic · 2 from abroad | 1 | — | — |
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record · publisher note attached- Procedure method
- Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded without competition
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Direct award (no call for competition)
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 4 Nov 2026, 10:23 GMT
- Last source update
- 4 Nov 2026, 10:23 GMT
- Authority reference
ACE-0049-2026-ESX- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-104531- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07b295Find a Tender
- Why no open competition
- The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive
- Published justification
This is a Direct Award Process C intention to award notice. The awarding of this contract is subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 and Procurement Act do not apply to this award. The publication of this notice marks the start of the standstill period. Representations by providers must be made to decision makers by midnight Tuesday, 17 November 2026. The contract has not yet formally been awarded, this notice serves as an intention to award under PSR.
The Authority has undertaken an appropriate and proportionate review of declarations and is satisfied that effective arrangements are in place to identify and manage any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest. Where relevant, mitigation measures have been applied to ensure that no conflict is capable of conferring any undue advantage or disadvantage. On this basis, the Authority is satisfied that no conflict of interest has adversely affected, or is capable of adversely affecting, the integrity of the procurement.
On this basis, the Authority is satisfied that no conflict of interest has adversely affected, or is capable of
a] All five key criteria were utilised in determining the suitability and continuation of the provider. The criteria were applied as per below, comprising:
Quality and Innovation (40%) - Quality should be the primary consideration for specialist fertility services due to the highly regulated nature of assisted conception treatment, the clinical risks associated with fertility interventions and the importance of achieving safe, effective patient outcomes. The service specification places significant emphasis on compliance with Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) standards, CQC requirements, NICE guidance, patient safety, live birth rates, waiting time standards and reducing avoidable harm such as multiple births and treatment complication
Value (30%) - It is a statutory duty to ensure the best use of public resources, therefore value has the second highest weighting
Integration, Collaboration and Service Sustainability (15%) -It is essential for good collaboration between specialist fertility services and secondary care
Improving Access, Reducing Health Inequalities and Facilitating Choice (10%) - Access to specialist services are important to ensure all patients receive the appropriate care and treatment
Social Value (5%) -Although the main focus of the specialist fertility service is to provide healthcare, a weighting of 5% has been allocated to reflect the ICB priority towards the importance of social value
Publisher note: This is a Direct Award Process C intention to award notice. The awarding of this contract is subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 and Procurement Act do not apply to this award. The publication of this notice marks the start of the standstill period. Representations by providers must be made to decision makers by midnight on Tuesday, 17 November 2026. The contract has not yet formally been awarded, this notice serves as an intention to award under PSR. Written Representation should be sent to: [email protected] The Decision Maker for this award was NHS Essex ICB Executive Board based on the value and term of the contract. In accordance with Regulation 21 of the HEalth Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023, a comprehensive conflicts of interest review was undertaken regarding the decision to utilise Direct Award Process C. No conflicts of interest were declared or identified by any of the designated award decision makers or individuals connected with the process.
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Dispute resolution & review bodies
- The Independent Patient Choice and Procurement PanelReview body
Bidders & participating suppliers
7 commercial parties on the notice- Bourn Hall ClinicAwarded supplier
- Cambridge University Hospital Foundation TrustAwarded supplier
- Care Fertility Group LimitedAwarded supplier
- Create Health Limited t/a Create FertilityAwarded supplier
- Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation TrustAwarded supplier
- Herts & Essex Fertility CentreAwarded supplier
- IVI London Wimpole LtdAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.