Contractors worried over slowdown in healthcare workloads

Contractors are warning that the £1bn NHS Express LIFT national procurement framework will not speed-up the delivery of primary care facilities.

As firms prepared to bid for the framework, which is based on NHS LIFT, firms raised doubts about the amount of construction work it will generate in the first two years.

One leading contractor said: "They may claim to have speeded-up procurement, but that process only procures a private sector partner who then has to work up a detailed estate strategy, including the provision of clinical services, which, at the end of all that, may or may not include some D&B."

Potential bidders are also concerned that the cost of developing the estate strategy has to come from rental income from new facilities. One commented: "The problem is that there is no guarantee there will be any new premises built, so you could work up the estate strategy at great expense and struggle to regain your costs."

Contractors are also cynical about how many Primary Care Trusts will sign up.

A Department of Health spokesman said more than 100 firms had turned up for the recent Express LIFT open-day. One contractor that attended said: "As there is so little in the health sector at the moment, people did show up. But that is no guarantee they will bid."

The framework is based on the NHS Local Improvement Finance Trusts (NHS LIFT) model and is aimed at cutting procurement costs and bid time.

Six to 10 firms will be selected onto the framework.