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Official procurement procedure

Market Engagement – NHS National Discovery Service Architecture (Knowledge and Library Services)

IT services: consulting
software development
Internet and support
+4 more
Location not published
Published value
£2,755,000
Submission deadline Not published
Lots published1
Procurement Executive Summary
AI & Search Synopsis
Generated from official OCDS record
Tenderline Synopsis: NHS England: "Market Engagement – NHS National Discovery Service Architecture (Knowledge and Library Services)". Published status: planning. Published value: £2,755,000. 1 published lot. Submission deadline not published. See the official notice for participation instructions.
Contracting AuthorityNHS EnglandScope & CategoriesNot publishedSubmission Window
planning
No deadline published
Submission GatewayDirect notice routeLegal Basis & RegimeStandard procurementEstimated Value (exc. VAT)£2,755,000
Bidder Intelligence · Authority Profile: NHS England
Market Analytics
View Authority Profile →
Derived from OCDS awards & bid statistics
Published history for NHS England. These figures describe retained records, not a forecast of bids or a measure of buyer bias.
Published-to-award variance
Not availableInsufficient comparable data
Requires at least 5 comparable procedures
Competition Density
22.8Bids / Report
7.7% of reports have one bid
Supplier ConcentrationModerate Concentration
Anna FreudTop vendor: 29.6% of attributable value
Payment Terms
Check noticePublished terms
Payment obligations depend on the applicable regime and contract. Consult the official documents.
Coverage: 859 active published awards; 13 bid reports (which may be per lot). Supplier values exclude multi-supplier awards, frameworks and DPS, and use GBP only. They are published award values, not payments. Published-to-award variance compares single-lot, single-award, single-supplier GBP procedures with explicitly non-framework/non-DPS status; increases remain in the average. Unpublished data stays unknown. Awarded suppliers are winners, not all bidders.
Historical Awarded Suppliers With This Authority:
Supplier NameHistoric AwardsAttributable GBP Value
Anna Freud1 win£5,862,540
Anglia Ruskin University1 win£4,809,159
NHS Shared Business Services Limited1 win£4,393,727
Pearson Professional Assessments Limited1 win£4,374,320
Timewise Foundation CIC1 win£166,667
Procedure terms
Contracting AuthorityNHS England
Procedure methodNot published
Procurement categoryNot published
Statusplanning
Framework / DPSNot published
CompetitionNot published
Above thresholdNot published
Legal basisNot published
Tender period startsNot published
Clarification deadlineNot published
Electronic submissionNot published
Submission languagesNot published
Published13 Jul 2026, 18:01 BST
Last source update13 Jul 2026, 18:01 BST
Recurring procurementNot published
ClassificationIT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support, Library management system, Library software development services, Library software package, Software package and information systems
Delivery areaLocation not published
OCIDocds-h6vhtk-06c9ff
What is being bought
This pre-procurement exercise is being run to engage suppliers capable of delivering all or some elements of the National Discovery Service for the NHS in England. This must include: • A discovery layer to seamlessly connect health and care staff and learners to trusted, high-quality knowledge and evidence resources in one place, using a single search. • Holdings management that can manage collections of content bought both nationally and locally. • Link enhancement that provides end-users with direct access to the full text of digital holdings from multiple platforms and enables library-to-library sharing of resources under the terms of the NHS Copyright Licence Plus. Additional information: • The contract(s) will be for the supply of hosted services as described above • We estimate the contract(s) to start on 1 April 2027 and that it/they will run for 3 years with optional extensions. This may be subject to change based on organisational priorities • Suppliers will be required to collaborate to produce an effective, integrated user experience • Systems must integrate effectively with other services in the ecosystem such as NHS OpenAthens, regional Koha library management systems, research repositories and content from diverse suppliers • If a transition period is required between current and new suppliers then this will be accommodated within the agreed contract period • A description of the high-level requirements can be found in the associated RFI document • The value referenced below covers all three requirements for the initial contract period plus extensions
What changed
From the official release history
  1. Published value updated to £2,755,000
    13 Jul 2026, 18:01 BST
  2. Status changed to planning
    13 Jul 2026, 18:01 BST
  3. Official notice release published
    13 Jul 2026, 18:01 BST
  4. Buyer information updated
    13 Jul 2026, 18:01 BST
Lots and requirements (1)
Published by the contracting authority
  • Lot 1 · #1
    Individual lot title not published
    planning
    Published valueNot published
    The source published no individual title or description for this lot.
    Contract periodNot published
    EligibilityNot published
    Options / renewalNot published
Timeline
  1. Pipeline notice
    13 Jul 2026, 18:01 BST
  2. Procedure published
    13 Jul 2026, 18:01 BST
  3. engagement
    14 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST · scheduled
    Suppliers interested in this opportunity are requested to complete the Request for Information (RFI) document related to the National Discovery Service Architecture for the NHS. Please remember that this is a preliminary market engagement and not a competitive tender. This process is being carried out in accordance with the principles outlined in the introduction to the RFI document, and its primary aim is to inform future decision-making. The RFI document and questionnaire can be found on Atamis by searching for "C439911". To register on the NHS England’s e-Tendering portal and to access this opportunity, please go to: https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome. You can then search for the opportunity and access any further information. Clarification questions and responses must be submitted via the NHS England’s e-Tendering portal, Atamis. A webinar will be held on Wednesday 22/07/2026 at 14:00 to 15:00 (BST) for 1 hour to further explain the requirements and aims of the programme. To book a slot for the webinar, please submit your details using the link below: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/1f97000b-80e0-46fb-b2ec-f6bea6229ff5@37c354b2-85b0-47f5-b222-07b48d774ee3 The deadline for submitting questions relating to this RFI prior to the Market Engagement Event is 17:00 17/07/2026. NHSE will aim to respond to questions submitted before this deadline, during the Market Engagement Event. The overall deadline for submitting questions relating to this RFI will be 17:00, 29/07/2026. This preliminary market engagement exercise is due for return by 17:00, 14/08/2026. If you experience any difficulties accessing the documents, please contact england.supplier@nhs.net
Commercial outcome and competition
AwardsNo award published
ContractsNo contract published
Bid statisticsNo aggregate bid statistics published
Buyer and organisations in this procedure

NHS England

Contracting authority GB-PPON-PDPT-3135-BWWY
View buyer profile
Documents (1)
Official links; attachments are not copied
Related procedures (0)
No data
No related procedures published
Planning and rationale
Planning budgetNot published
No-engagement rationaleNot published
Procedure rationaleNot published