Contractors await review after ProCure 21 change

Contractors working on NHS projects will come under scrutiny following a Department of Health (DoH) rejig.

One year after the abolition of NHS Estates, ProCure 21 has a new home at the DoH’s Commercial Directorate. Peter Woolliscroft, head of the flagship framework initiative, is to meet ProCure 21’s 11 principal supply chain partners (PSCPs) this week, to discuss the implications of the move.

The meeting is expected to include a review of each PSCP’s performance. There is a significant disparity between hit rates. Laing O’Rourke tops the league table, having won a staggering £369m under the national scheme, while Balfour Beatty and Taylor Woodrow have landed a mere £33m and £25m respectively.

The decision to place ProCure 21 within the Commercial Directorate ends months of speculation about the future of the initiative. However, it raises fresh questions on which direction ProCure 21 will take under the Directorate’s guidance.

The Directorate brief is to provide commercial advice to the DoH and to streamline NHS private sector procurement. It is led by commercial director Ken Anderson, a former Amey director, who joined the DoH in 2002 to head its independent sector treatment centre (ISTC) programme.

One of the Directorate’s initiatives is the Supply Chain Excellence Programme. It aims to save £500m a year by streamlining the NHS supply chain, grouping NHS Trusts into regional procurement hubs.

ProCure 21 contractors greeted the move with mixed reactions this week. Some expressed relief that ProCure 21 is not being transferred to the Purchasing and Supply Agency, which they see as an overly bureaucratic institution. One said: "It’s good to know ProCure 21 is under the stewardship of what appears to be a commercially-oriented division with some clout."

Others took a more pessimistic view. One contractor commented: "The progress of the independent sector treatment centres under Anderson doesn’t fill me with a warm glow of confidence." The ISTC programme has been dogged with delays and procurement problems, which saw two preferred bidders drop out of the programme.

Some PSCPs are hoping the Commercial Directorate makes ProCure 21 mandatory to all NHS Trusts. Others want the directorate to cut the number of PSCPs from 11 to around six to make the process more competitive.