“The new framework agreement offers the NHS and other public sector organisations a compliant, cost-effective route for procuring construction-related services including architecture, civil and structural engineering, and surveying, among others,” NHS SBS explains. “The NHS in England has 1,500 hospitals, and some buildings pre-date the service’s formation. Without regular renovation the care, safety, and wellbeing of patients, hospital staff, and the public, can be compromised.”
Figures from NHS Digital put the current cost to eradicate the backlog of repairs and maintenance of the hospital estate at £10.2 bn, more than double that of £4.7bn in 2011/12.
NHS SBS said: “In response, the Government’s New Hospital Programme has committed to build 40 new hospitals by the end of the decade, backed by over £20 bn of investment in hospital infrastructure. At the programme’s centre is the ‘hospital 2.0’ concept, a vision for how hospital schemes can be delivered with greater efficiency and reduced cost.
NHS hospital Trusts will work with a central programme team, as well as local and regional stakeholders, to design and deliver green, energy-efficient buildings through to hospitals using state-of-the-art technology to improve the health of the local population. The scale of the New Hospital Programme calls on the skills of companies of all sizes, across a broad range of sectors.
NHS SBS says the HPCCAS framework agreement offers ‘a UK-wide, comprehensive, convenient, and compliant route to find and purchase services from 179 carefully vetted suppliers operating in the construction space, quickly and efficiently’. The framework agreement is free to use, and comprises 11 distinct service types (Lots) – including Architectural Services, Civil & Structural Engineering, Building Surveyors, Principal Designer Services and Multi-Disciplinary Services. The framework agreement has included a specific Net Zero, Environmental Consultancy & Sustainability lot ‘to support users to achieve cost-effective carbon footprint reduction’. The Healthcare Planning lot, meanwhile, provides all elements of Healthcare Planning and strategy, including developing models of care, demand and capacity modelling, business case development, population health needs assessment, and strategic estates planning.
Melissa King, NHS SBS Senior Category manager – Construction & Infrastructure, said: “To achieve the level of investment and regeneration required across the NHS and public sector, customers need a compliant, secure, and trusted route that helps them navigate construction consultancy services through to procurement.
“To cater for regionalised procurement, 78% of the suppliers appointed are small-to-medium sized enterprises, sitting alongside larger multidisciplinary (tier 1) suppliers. Previous iterations of the framework agreement have achieved 10-15% savings. With a £1.6 bn expected spend via it over the next four years, the HPCCAS framework agreement has the potential to achieve public sector savings of up £240 m.”
The 11 core construction consultancy services include:
Architectural Services.
Project Management.
Civil & Structural Engineering.
Quantity Surveyor.
Mechanical, Electrical and Public Health (MEP) Services.
Principal Designer Services.
Multidisciplinary Services.
Building Surveyors.
Healthcare Planning.
Net Zero, Environmental Consultancy & Sustainability.
Ancillary Services
The framework runs from 14 August 2023 –13 August 2027.