Official UK procurement notice
Provision of Simulated Patient Actors
Authority: UNIVERSITY OF LANCASTER (Education)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionLancaster University is inviting tenders for the provision of Simulated Patient Actors to support teaching, training and assessment activities within Lancaster Medical School.
The successful supplier will provide trained actors to participate in simulated clinical scenarios used in medical education, including teaching sessions and formal student assessments such as Objective Structured Clinical Examinations. Actors will be required to portray patients in a range of clinical situations and follow structured case briefs provided by the University.
The contract will support the delivery of high-quality clinical simulation to enhance student learning and assessment within the Medical School.
- The authority expects to re-tender this requirement around 1 Mar 2031, 23:59 GMT.
- No preliminary market engagement: Prior to commencing the procurement, the contracting authority undertook limited informal market engagement with two suppliers to better understand the market and inform the development of the specification and procurement approach. This engagement did not constitute a formal preliminary market engagement exercise and therefore a preliminary market engagement notice was not published.
CPV: Education and training services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1RenewalPublished value£660,000
- Economic & financial standing
Suppliers must demonstrate that they have the appropriate legal and financial standing to deliver the contract. Lancaster University will use financial stability using information provided in the tender submission, such as turnover and financial accounts, to ensure the supplier has sufficient economic capacity to perform the contract.
Further details of the financial requirements and evaluation approach are set out in the procurement documents available via the Lancaster University e-tendering portal (In-Tend).
- Technical & professional ability
Suppliers must demonstrate relevant experience and technical capability in providing simulated patient actors to support healthcare education, clinical training, or assessment environments.
This may include evidence of the ability to recruit, train and manage actors to portray clinical scenarios, and to deliver services reliably in an educational or professional training setting.
Full details of the technical and professional capability requirements are provided in the procurement documents.
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 (5)
- Service Delivery: 25%
- Value for Money: 10%
- Scenario Based Questions: 25%
- Price: 30%
- Sustainability: 10%
Published award criteria (5)
- Service Delivery: Assessment of supplier's proposed approach to delivering simulated patient actor services, including recruitment, training, management of actors, reliability of service delivery and ability to meet the requirements of Lancaster Medical School teaching and assessment activities.
- Value for Money: Assessment of how the supplier will deliver value for money across the contract, including efficient service delivery, resource management and the ability to support the University's teaching and assessment requirements effectively.
- Sustainability: Assessment of the supplier's approach to sustainability, including environmental considerations, responsible operational practices and any initiatives that support social value or reduced environmental impact in the delivery of the service.
- Scenario Based Questions: Assessment of responses to scenario based questions designed to evaluate the supplier's ability to respond to practical service delivery situations, including actor coordination, reliability, and the ability to support clinical teaching and assessment environments.
- Price: Evaluation of the supplier's completed pricing schedule.
- Economic & financial standing
Suppliers must demonstrate that they have the appropriate legal and financial standing to deliver the contract. Lancaster University will use financial stability using information provided in the tender submission, such as turnover and financial accounts, to ensure the supplier has sufficient economic capacity to perform the contract.
Further details of the financial requirements and evaluation approach are set out in the procurement documents available via the Lancaster University e-tendering portal (In-Tend).
- Technical & professional ability
Suppliers must demonstrate relevant experience and technical capability in providing simulated patient actors to support healthcare education, clinical training, or assessment environments.
This may include evidence of the ability to recruit, train and manage actors to portray clinical scenarios, and to deliver services reliably in an educational or professional training setting.
Full details of the technical and professional capability requirements are provided in the procurement documents.
- Price carries 30 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 3 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
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
- Closed
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Light touch regime
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Yes · next expected 1 Mar 2031
- First published
- 11 Mar 2026, 13:12 GMT
- Last source update
- 11 Mar 2026, 13:12 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 13 May 2026
- Authority reference
SP/25/1450- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-021763- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06673cFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 15 Apr 2026, 15:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 10 Apr 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Tenders must be submitted electronically via the Lancaster University e-tendering portal (In-Tend)
Timeline
11 Mar 2026 → 1 Sept 2026 · 5 dates- Tender notice published231 days ago11 Mar 2026, 13:12 GMT
- Clarification questions by201 days ago10 Apr 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadline196 days ago15 Apr 2026, 15:00 BST
- Award decision expected by167 days ago13 May 2026, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts57 days ago1 Sept 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Tender notice published11 Mar 2026, 13:12 GMTUK4
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Technical specifications
- Bidding documents and specifications The procurement documents are available via the Lancaster University e-tendering portal In-Tend. Suppliers must register, access the tender documentation and submit their response electronically via: https://in-tendhost.co.uk/lancaster/aspx/Home Suppliers who are not already regi…
Notices published for this procedure
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender