Tender

Ask AI about this notice

Summarise, research or assess it with AI

View Markdown

Share this notice

Send this contract to a colleague

National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre

Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership Ltd

This public procurement record has 3 releases in its history.

Tender

03 Aug 2026 at 13:27

UK4 - Tender Notice
PlanningUpdate

16 Apr 2026 at 14:58

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Planning

16 Apr 2026 at 14:26

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Summary of the contracting process

Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership Ltd is procuring services to host and operate the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre for NHS-funded care in England and Wales. The centre will deliver and develop ten national audits covering breast, metastatic breast, bowel, kidney, lung, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, oesophago-gastric, ovarian, pancreatic and prostate cancers. Work includes collecting and analysing healthcare data, measuring and benchmarking quality, identifying unwarranted variation, producing timely reports and dashboards, and supporting quality improvement. The provider will review audit metrics and data sources, collaborate with NHS organisations, Welsh Government and other partners, involve patients, carers and the public, and provide programme governance. The service is intended to improve consistency, reporting and use of cancer audit evidence across healthcare providers. The main delivery area is England and Wales.

The procurement has reached tender: HQIP invited offers through an open procedure. Bidders may submit electronically in English. Enquiries must be submitted by 18 September 2026 at 12:00, and bids by 2 October 2026 at 12:00. Evaluation is due by 13 January 2027 at 23:59. The contract is planned to run from 1 October 2027 to 30 September 2030, with an option to extend to 30 September 2032. The core maximum is £11,145,600 including VAT (£9,288,000 excluding VAT); bids above this limit will be rejected. Potential extensions are valued at up to £3,715,200 per year including VAT. The potential ceiling, including extensions and aspirational measures, is £28,029,455 including VAT (£23,357,879 excluding VAT). Quality accounts for 95% and price 5%.

This opportunity suits organisations able to run complex national clinical audit and healthcare quality improvement programmes, including SMEs and voluntary, community or social enterprises. Strong candidates will bring clinical, statistical, analytical and data-management capability, with experience acquiring, validating, linking and interpreting healthcare data and reducing reporting delays. They will need to design relevant metrics, benchmark providers, identify outliers and translate findings into practical improvement support. The requirement also favours providers with robust information governance, risk management, programme governance and delivery planning, alongside the ability to develop integrated dashboards and other accessible outputs. Effective engagement with clinicians, NHS bodies, commissioners, cancer networks, patients, carers, charities and the public is central. Suppliers should be able to manage multiple audit topics consistently, support subcontractors and align outputs with NICE guidance and national policy.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre

Notice Description

The contract will initially be delivered for NHS-funded care in England and Wales for a period of 3 years, at a maximum total budget of up to PS11,145,600 GBP including VAT, PS9,288,000 GBP excluding VAT. Bids exceeding this limit will be rejected. There is potential to extend the contract for up to two additional years at a potential value of PS3,715,200 GBP per year including VAT, PS3,096,000 GBP per year excluding VAT. All pricing submissions must be in regard to this 'core' value, and not inclusive of any extension costs or aspirational intent costs, i.e. Please only submit a cost schedule up to the maximum core value of PS11,145,600 GBP including VAT, PS9,288,000 GBP excluding VAT. The maximum budget 'core' value excludes the potential two year extension and aspirational intent as described in section 14.4 of Annex A - Service Specification. Please note, there is no commitment by the Authority at this stage to include any aspirational intent measures. Taking the total of this aspirational intent into account, as well as the possibility that a contract extension may be offered for an additional two years, the potential ceiling value is PS28,029,455 GBP including VAT, PS23,357,879 GBP excluding VAT There is also a potential that the contract price will be subject to discretionary inflationary uplifts. Cancer is a leading cause of mortality, but it is also a leading cause of avoidable mortality in England and Wales. Cancer mortality rates in the UK are much higher than in other, comparable countries and vary greatly between different areas of the country. As part of the effort to improve treatment and outcomes and reduce variation, the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre (NATCAN) was established and funded by NHS England and the Welsh Government in 2022. The aim was to develop a national centre of expertise which would host the NHS national cancer audits. The audits provide regular and timely evidence to NHS services about where and how patterns of care vary between patients and between hospitals and to support local quality improvement. The Centre hosts ten audits, some of which are very well established and others which have been added to the portfolio since NATCAN was established. The audits are for primary breast cancer, metastatic breast cancer, bowel cancer, kidney cancer, lung cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, oesophago-gastric cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer. The funders have decided to recommission the national centre following the initial contract for an additional contract period. The anticipated continued benefits of a national centre for cancer audit delivery include: *Consistency and standardisation across audits *Flexibility to develop and share specialised resources between audit topics (such as statisticians and data analysts, and patient and public involvement expertise) *Enhanced subcontracting power across topics (such as for data visualisation platforms) *Consistency and alignment of communications strategies Further details of the current work can be found at www.natcan.org.uk. The role of national clinical audit is to stimulate healthcare quality improvement through the provision of high-quality information on the organisation, delivery and outcomes of healthcare, together with tools and support to enable healthcare providers and other audiences to make best use of this information. Outcomes are benchmarked against available national guidance and standards e.g. quality standards from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), and those from other established professional and patient sources. Successful national audits are those where the individuals who are engaging with and using the audit results are also in a position to improve the system, and where there is a shared understanding of what good care looks like. National clinical audits are expected to: a.Develop a robust, high-quality audit designed around key quality metrics likely to best support local and national healthcare quality improvement b.Detect, describe and help reduce unwarranted clinical variation by systematically benchmarking performance, identifying outliers, and supporting services to understand variation in outcomes, processes and experience c.Achieve, articulate and maintain close alignment with relevant NICE national guidance and quality standards throughout the audit, as appropriate d.Enable healthcare quality improvement through the provision of timely, high-quality data that compares providers of healthcare, and comprises an integrated mixture of named Trust or Health Board, regional Cancer Alliance, Integrated Care System (ICS), commissioner, multidisciplinary team (MDT), possibly consultant or clinical team level and other levels of reporting e.Engage patients, carers and the public in a meaningful way, achieving a strong patient voice which informs and contributes to the design, functioning, outputs and direction of the audit f.Consider the value and feasibility of linking data at an individual patient level to other relevant national datasets either from the outset or in the future, and plan for these linkages from the inception of the contract g.Ensure robust methodological and statistical input at all stages of the audit h.Identify from the outset the full range of audiences for the reports and other audit outputs, and plan and tailor them accordingly i.Provide audit results in a timely, accessible and meaningful manner to support healthcare quality improvement, minimising the reporting time lag and providing continual access to data at relevant reporting levels j.Utilise strong and effective project and programme management to deliver audit outputs on time and within budget k.Develop and maintain strong engagement with local clinicians, networks, commissioners, patients and their families and carers, and charity and community support groups to drive improvements in services At the time of writing the specification, requirements include the following (please also refer to the potential future aspirational intent section listed in section 14.4 of Annex A - Service Specification): 1.Delivery of the ten audits already underway with a focus on treatment variation. The funder and commissioner may decide to stand down current topics and add different topics and / or vary the number of reporting metrics to accommodate the inclusion of different or additional/revised topics. 2.Conduct a review of all reported NATCAN metrics in order to identify clearly the following: *The clinical and operational relevance of each metric, with a focus on the audits' core objectives and on enhancing system impact and identifying areas of unwarranted treatment variation (this includes identifying areas of new unwarranted variation) *How to avoid duplication with metrics reported by NHSE/DHSC and other bodies, cancer waiting times and cancer patient survey data* *The optimal source of data for each metric *The optimal frequency of publication *How to reduce and minimise the reporting time lag for each metric *For England: How to engage with and link to relevant actions identified in the National Cancer Plan for England 3.Periodically monitor longitudinal data trajectories to determine whether a metric remains relevant or should be stood down. 4.Regularly review the source of data for each metric, striking a clinically and operationally relevant balance between publishing timely data, and data that is more complete and validated. 5.Work collaboratively with NHS organisations and teams, e.g. cancer alliances, DHSC/NHSE teams, the National Disease Registration Service (NDRS), Welsh Government, and health boards. This will include consulting on metric selection, data sources and frequency of publication of metric results as above. 6.Implement technical solutions to support system leaders and local healthcare providers to be able to identify and visualise outputs from the various NATCAN audits in one display, thereby enabling understanding of themes and priority issues across the NATCAN audits. 7.Maximise consistency and harmonisation across the NATCAN portfolio of topics, e.g. consistency of output focus, remit and formats, including the scopes, dashboards and state of the nation reports to make them easier for users to use and cross-refer. 8.Revisit the Scoping Document for each audit, updating to ensure relevance to new standards and guidance and that they add maximum value, and use these documents to proactively monitor that each audit remains focused on its core objectives. *Unless the funders and commissioner explicitly request and sign off any such metrics. Further details of the existing audit can be found at: https://www.natcan.org.uk/

Lot Information

Lot 1

Renewal: Up to PS3,715,200 GBP per year including VAT, PS3,096,000 GBP per year excluding VAT. This proposed extension value will also include pro rata funding of any additional aspirational measures invoked in the first 3 years of the contract. For example: If an aspirational annual requirement costing PS500,000 per year is invoked in year 3, then the extension funding (if the aspirational measure is continued) will be the above figures plus the additional PS500,000 per year.

Planning Information

Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) is seeking to engage with the market on the recommissioning of the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre. The Authority is looking to build on the successes of the existing programme currently contracted with the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Further information as well as details of the current programme can be found at: https://www.natcan.org.uk/ HQIP will be holding a pre-market engagement session with potential suppliers on Tuesday 19th May 2026 2.00pm-4.00pm. This meeting will focus on the commissioning of a host for the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre as an umbrella centre. It will not focus on topic selection nor the consideration of particular cancers or tumour sites. The topics for which audits are offered are determined by the funders . Also in attendance will be system partners and service specialists including charities. The aim of the pre-market engagement session is for interested parties to hear and contribute to discussions with system experts and patient groups that will feed into HQIP's final decisions on the scope of the Centre during this next contract period, and the anticipated outcomes over the 3-5 years of the audit. The existing specification is available for review by any interested parties and whilst it will provide information on how the current Centre was scoped, it is important to understand that the recommissioning of this Centre may amend the requirements. At this point, the Authority is planning to run this procurement under an open tender. The proposed dates (subject to change solely at the Authority’s discretion) are as follows: •19th May 2026 - Pre Market Engagement Session •Publication of tender opportunity - July 2026 •Evaluation of submitted bids - October 2026 •Award - December 2026 •Contract start - 1st October 2027 Whilst the Authority intends to stick to the timeline, it may deviate away from it at any time. The expected value of the contract will be subject to increase under aspirational intent measures which will be defined in the service specification at point of tender. The authority cannot commit to this work at this stage, but it may become a requirement between the premarket engagement event and the tender opportunity going live. The aspirational intent will cover the value range and mechanisms for invoking each element of it. If you would like to join this premarket engagement event, please register by close of business on 13 May 2026 via: https://forms.office.com/e/6cE4UjVBXC You may also use this opportunity to request a copy of the existing project specification.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-068450
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/073185-2026
Current Stage
Tender
All Stages
Planning, Tender

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK4 - Tender Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Open
Procurement Method Details
Open procedure
Tender Suitability
SME, VCSE
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

85 - Health and social work services

CPV Codes

85100000 - Health services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£23,357,879 £10M-£100M
Lots Value
£23,357,879 £10M-£100M
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
3 Aug 20263 weeks ago
Submission Deadline
2 Oct 20262 months to go
Future Notice Date
1 Jul 2026Expired
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
1 Oct 2027 - 30 Sep 2030 3-4 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Active
Lots Status
Active
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership Ltd
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
LONDON
Postcode
EC2V 6DL
Postcode Area
Central 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
Not specified
Local Authority
City of London
Electoral Ward
Cheap
Westminster Constituency
Cities of London and Westminster

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

JSON Markdown

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.

Loading OCDS record...