Eric Wright and Morgan Sindall on £1bn NHS Express LIFT deal

Eric Wright and Morgan Sindall have beaten Laing O’Rourke, Costain, Miller and Vinci to win a place on the £1bn NHS Express Lift framework deal. The line up of seven firms sees only two contractors make the grade.

The seven framework members all have strong track records in NHS LIFT.

The seven framework members are:

• Community Solutions for Primary Care (Morgan Sindall) Express Lift Investment (Anagennao/Cyril Sweett/Sutton
• Harbour Holdings
• Equity Solutions and Partners
• Eric Wright Group
• Fulcrum Infrastructure (formerly Building Better Health)
• Odyssey Healthcare (Babcock & Brown / Ashley House/GSL UK)
• Prime

NHS Express LIFT aims to extend access to the NHS LIFT programme to at least another 70 Primary Care Trusts (PCTs). Bidding costs and procurement times will be slashed under the framework, which is expected to hit the ground running.

Instead of working up sample schemes framework members will undergo a beauty parade similar to that used by NHS ProCure21 with PCTs choosing their preferred partner within six to eight weeks. The PCT and the preferred partner then set up a LIFTCo to deliver health schemes over a 20 year period.

Previously, under NHS LIFT, procurement could take two years with up to three bidders asked to work up designs for sample schemes. Savings are also expected from the introduction of market testing for construction and FM work.