Notice Information
Notice Title
DHSC: National Breastfeeding Helpline
Notice Description
The Department of Health and Social Care is seeking a provider to deliver the National Breastfeeding Helpline, providing breastfeeding information and support via a 24 hour helpline for families across the UK.
Lot Information
Lot 1
The Department of Health and Social Care is seeking a provider to deliver the National Breastfeeding Helpline, providing breastfeeding information and support via a 24 hour helpline for families across the UK.
Procurement Information
DHSC have made a direct award to the Breastfeeding Network (BfN) for a 12-month period to provide a continuity of service for the 24-hour National Breastfeeding Helpline (NBH).<br/><br/>This direct award has been made in accordance with Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) competition is absent for technical reasons.<br/><br/>In 2024/25, the NBH was expanded to pilot a night service so that services are available to members of the public 24 hours a day, every day of the year. The current NBH service includes a 24-hour telephone helpline and voicemail service, social media, webchat and links to the BfN's drugs in breastmilk advice service.<br/><br/>DHSC have deemed that BfN are currently the only supplier who are positioned to run the 24-hour service without helpline users facing a gap or reduction in service provision, based upon BfN's capacity to manage service demand and them additionally having the means to increase capacity of the night service in early 2025/26. BfN also previously commissioned an independent evaluation for the 2024/25 pilot and are uniquely positioned to put arrangements in place for an independent evaluation of the full night service pilot which is required by DHSC. For these reasons, BfN are currently the only provider who could deliver the full scope of service requirements at the required scale.<br/><br/>DHSC are exploring longer term solutions in respect to the ongoing provision of the NBH, and intend to conduct an open procedure in late Q2 or early Q3 of 2025/26 to source a replacement contract. To support this, DHSC intend to conduct market engagement at the end of Q1 or beginning of Q2 2025/26. A UK2 preliminary market engagement notice will be published to advertise any upcoming engagement.
Notice Details
Publication & Lifecycle
- Open Contracting ID
- ocds-h6vhtk-0507fc
- Publication Source
- Find A Tender Service
- Latest Notice
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/017166-2025
- Current Stage
- Award
- All Stages
- Award
Procurement Classification
- Notice Type
- Award Notice
- Procurement Type
- Standard
- Procurement Category
- Services
- Procurement Method
- Limited
- Procurement Method Details
- Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
- Tender Suitability
- Not specified
- Awardee Scale
- SME
Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)
- CPV Divisions
79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security
85 - Health and social work services
-
- CPV Codes
79512000 - Call centre
85312300 - Guidance and counselling services
85312320 - Counselling services
Notice Value(s)
- Tender Value
- Not specified
- Lots Value
- Not specified
- Awards Value
- Not specified
- Contracts Value
- £786,363 £500K-£1M
Notice Dates
- Publication Date
- 26 Apr 202510 months ago
- Submission Deadline
- Not specified
- Future Notice Date
- Not specified
- Award Date
- 28 Mar 202511 months ago
- Contract Period
- Not specified - Not specified
- Recurrence
- Not specified
Notice Status
- Tender Status
- Complete
- Lots Status
- Cancelled
- Awards Status
- Active
- Contracts Status
- Active
Buyer & Supplier
Contracting Authority (Buyer)
- Main Buyer
- DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE
- Contact Name
- Matt Land
- Contact Email
- ccsinbox@dhsc.gov.uk
- Contact Phone
- Not specified
Buyer Location
- Locality
- LONDON
- Postcode
- SW1H 0EU
- Post Town
- South West London
- Country
- England
-
- Major Region (ITL 1)
- TLI London
- Basic Region (ITL 2)
- TLI3 Inner London - West
- Small Region (ITL 3)
- TLI35 Westminster and City of London
- Delivery Location
- TLI32 Westminster
-
- Local Authority
- Westminster
- Electoral Ward
- St James's
- Westminster Constituency
- Cities of London and Westminster
Further Information
Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)
View full OCDS Record for this contracting process
The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts.
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