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Provision of Professional Interpreting and Translation Services

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

This public procurement record has 2 releases in its history.

Tender

07 Sep 2026 at 10:50

UK4 - Tender Notice
Planning

07 Sep 2026 at 10:43

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Summary of the contracting process

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is procuring a single-supplier professional interpreting and translation service across its Trust sites: King’s College Hospital at Denmark Hill, Princess Royal University Hospital, Orpington Hospital, Beckenham Beacon, Queen Mary’s Hospital Sidcup and associated community locations. The service will support safe, equitable, patient-centred communication between patients, carers, families and healthcare professionals. It covers face-to-face, telephone and video interpreting, British Sign Language and other non-spoken language support, plus written translation of clinical and non-clinical documents. The scope also includes accessible formats such as Braille and Easy Read, and a secure technology-enabled booking, reporting and management platform. The service must support planned and urgent care for a patient population using more than 80 languages.

The process has reached tender: the Trust invited offers through an open competitive flexible procedure. It is a single lot and is suitable for SMEs and voluntary, community or social enterprises. Responses were due by 7 October 2026 at 12:00 noon, with the award decision due by 23 December 2026 at 23:59. The contract is scheduled to run from 4 January 2027 to 3 January 2030, with two optional 12-month extensions and a maximum end date of 3 January 2032. Its estimated value is £2,000,000 excluding VAT, or £2,400,000 including VAT. Evaluation is based on technical quality, including the technical response and demonstration, at 60%, commercial pricing at 30%, and social value at 10%. Electronic submissions in English are allowed.

This opportunity suits an established language-services provider able to deliver a responsive, scalable service across multiple hospital and community settings. Suppliers should have capability in face-to-face, telephone and video interpreting, British Sign Language, non-spoken communication support, written translation and accessible document formats. They will need capacity to cover more than 80 languages and to handle both planned appointments and urgent healthcare requirements. Strong booking, scheduling, reporting and performance-management technology will be important, alongside secure handling of clinical information. The service model must meet NHS information-governance, safeguarding, accessibility and equality requirements, with effective quality assurance and governance. Providers proposing AI-enabled tools will need appropriate human oversight and reliable assurance of patient safety and service quality.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

Provision of Professional Interpreting and Translation Services

Notice Description

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is seeking to appoint a single supplier to provide a comprehensive, high-quality Interpretation and Translation Service across all Trust sites, including King's College Hospital (Denmark Hill), Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH), Orpington Hospital, Beckenham Beacon, Queen Mary's Hospital Sidcup and associated community locations. The service is intended to support safe, equitable and patient-centred care by enabling effective communication between patients, carers, families and healthcare professionals. The scope includes the provision of face-to-face, telephone, video and interpreting services, together with British Sign Language (BSL) and other non-spoken language support services. The provider will also be required to deliver written translation services for clinical and non-clinical documents, accessible formats such as Braille and Easy Read, and a secure technology-enabled booking, reporting and management platform. The service must operate across a diverse patient population representing more than 80 languages and support both planned and urgent care pathways. The successful provider will be expected to deliver a responsive, scalable and innovative service model that complies with NHS information governance, safeguarding, accessibility and equality requirements, whilst incorporating appropriate human oversight for AI-enabled solutions. The Contracting Authority intends to award a single-provider contract to ensure consistent service delivery, quality assurance, governance, performance reporting and patient experience across the Trust.

Lot Information

Lot 1

Options: Two optional extension periods of 12 months each

Renewal: Two optional extension periods of 12 months each

Planning Information

This engagement focused on engagement with prospective suppliers on high-quality Translation and Interpretation Service to support the communication needs of patients across King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. As part of this process, a Request for Information (RFI) was issued in August 2025 to the market to gain insight into current industry trends, innovative service delivery models, and potential efficiencies. The RFI helped enable the Trust to better understand supplier capabilities and market direction, helping to shape a well-informed tender specification. The ultimate objective was to ensure the successful implementation of a service model underpinned by the appropriate tools, systems, and expertise to provide consistent, reliable, and compliant translation and interpretation support. The selected supplier will be expected to meet NHS standards while facilitating equitable access to healthcare services for all patients, regardless of language or communication needs.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-06f32b
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/084260-2026
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
Competitive flexible procedure
Tender Suitability
SME, VCSE
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

CPV Codes

79540000 - Interpretation services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£2,000,000 £1M-£10M
Lots Value
£2,000,000 £1M-£10M
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
7 Sep 20261 weeks ago
Submission Deadline
7 Oct 20263 weeks to go
Future Notice Date
8 Sep 2026Expired
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
4 Jan 2027 - 3 Jan 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
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
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
SE5 9NY
Postcode Area
South East London
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLI London
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLI4 Inner London - East
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLI45 Lambeth
Delivery Location
TLI London, TLI45 Lambeth, TLJ South East (England)
Local Authority
Lambeth
Electoral Ward
Herne Hill & Loughborough Junction
Westminster Constituency
Dulwich and West Norwood

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

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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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