Official UK procurement notice
Provision of Pharmacy Services
Authority: KENT COMMUNITY HEALTH NHS FOUNDATION TRUST (Central government)·Consortium: 2 public authorities
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionKent Community Health NHS Trust (KCHFT) and Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust (KMMH) are publishing this UK2: Preliminary Market Engagement Notice on 15th May 2026 to invite expressions of interest from suppliers to participate in a market engagement exercise relating to the provision of a complete pharmaceutical supply services for both inpatient and community services across the two Trusts.
Since 2022, Kent and Medway NHS Mental Health Trust (KMMH) and Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT) have collaboratively procured pharmacy services across both organisations. This joint approach builds on an established partnership, enabling a system-wide model that maximises the effective use of resources, strengthens local relationships, and enhances service delivery across both Trusts.
The overarching aim of the pharmacy supply service is to provide a safe, efficient, and patient-centred medicines supply function that supports high-quality clinical care across inpatient, rehabilitation, and community settings. The service is designed to:
- Ensure timely, accurate, and reliable dispensing and supply of medicines to meet the needs of patients and services.
- Support safe and effective medicines management in line with legal, regulatory, and professional standards.
- Enable continuity of care through responsive and flexible supply arrangements, including urgent and out-of-hours provision.
- Reduce medicines waste and optimise resource utilisation through stock management, recycling, and redistribution processes.
- Support digital transformation through integration with Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (EPMA) systems.
- Provide specialist services, including clozapine dispensing, in alignment with national monitoring requirements and local clinical pathways and the provision of over labelling of medicines.
- Contribute to workforce development through the training and support of pre-registration/foundation pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.
- Ensure robust financial and clinical governance through accurate data reporting, audit, and management of national medicines alerts.
The service will work in partnership with clinical teams to ensure medicines optimisation, improve patient outcomes, and support the evolving needs of mental health and community healthcare services.
KCHFT will act as the lead authority for the procurement of these services.
An engagement presentation is scheduled for 10 am on 8th June 2026. This will be by Microsoft Teams and not in person.
The presentation will outline the Trusts' objectives for the service, anticipated timelines, and expectations for the procurement process. It will also provide an opportunity for suppliers to ask questions and offer feedback to the Trusts.
If you would like to participate in this session please email [email protected] to confirm attendance and an invite will be sent to you.
CPV: Pharmaceutical products · Pharmacy services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How KENT COMMUNITY HEALTH NHS FOUNDATION TRUST buys Miscellaneous health services (CPV 8514), and who usually turns up
KENT COMMUNITY HEALTH NHS FOUNDATION TRUST’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Miscellaneous health services (CPV 8514) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
How often small and medium firms win.
Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.
The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in the delivery region.
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.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards were announced within 45 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
The buyer’s share is a minimum: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.
How many bids did past lots attract?
i
How many bids past lots received.
Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.
Past bids do not predict this tender.
1 bid0%
2–333%
4–633%
7+33%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate20%
Within ±2%40%
Above estimate40%
Assess each lot i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1CPV 8514Published estimate£20m
i
How many bids this lot may attract.
The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.
Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 182 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid31%
2–331%
4–623%
7+15%
i
Where the award price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
No comparable awards for this lot yet.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
Who could compete for this lot? i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
About this data
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
- Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
- Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
- Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Goods
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 15 May 2026, 17:36 BST
- Last source update
- 15 May 2026, 17:36 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-045126- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-069a82Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
15 May 2026 → 1 Apr 2028 · 4 dates- Planning notice published160 days ago15 May 2026, 17:36 BST
- Market engagement114 days ago30 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
An engagement presentation is scheduled for 10 am on 8th June 2026. This will be by Microsoft Teams and not in person.
The presentation will outline the Trusts' objectives for the service, anticipated timelines, and expectations for the procurement process. It will also provide an opportunity for suppliers to ask questions and offer feedback to the Trusts.
The Trusts are also offering the chance to meet with them on an individual basis post presentation and completion of a questionnaire which will be issued to interested parties. This will take place on the morning of the 23rd of June at the request of either party.
If you would like to participate in this session please email [email protected] to confirm attendance and an invite will be sent to you.
- Tender notice expected48 days ago4 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today22 Oct 2026
- Contract starts1 Apr 2028, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published15 May 2026, 17:36 BSTUK2
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
2 public bodies on the noticeConsortium members and other public bodies
- KENT AND MEDWAY MENTAL HEALTH NHS TRUSTContracting authorityPublic authority - central government
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender