---
title: "The NIHR Evaluations, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre (NETSCC)"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-048bd1"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-048bd1"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-048bd1.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-048bd1.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE"
published: "2024-08-16"
---

# The NIHR Evaluations, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre (NETSCC)

Buyer: DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-048bd1

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## Summary

The Department of Health and Social Care, based in London, is overseeing a procurement process for the NIHR Evaluations, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre (NETSCC), classified under "Administrative services of agencies" in the CPV scheme. The procurement focuses on administrative support for research and development (R&D) within the health and care sectors across the United Kingdom. This tender, currently at the contract update stage, involves significant dates such as a contract period from 1st April 2018 to 31st March 2027, following a modification that extended the contract by two additional years. The procurement method follows a framework agreement and emphasises administrative and scientific secretariat skills necessary for the project.

This tender offers substantial opportunities for growth, particularly for businesses specialising in administrative support for health research projects. Entities proficient in scientific secretariat support, research commissioning, and project management within the health and care services would find this project particularly beneficial. Furthermore, organisations experienced in managing large budgets, monitoring research project milestones, and ensuring quality financial and information management systems are well-suited to compete. This is a notable opportunity for businesses with a robust understanding of health research administration, looking to expand their portfolio within the public sector.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

* Established processes for commissioning R&D within NIHR and DH were set up to promote probity in spending public money and equality of opportunity. NETSCC will be expected to adopt similar standards of commissioning for all its managed programmes. This is an essential requirement and bidders must demonstrate an understanding of the process and the skills required to deliver it which, crucially, includes scientific secretariat skills.

* NETSCC will be required to provide administrative support to all systems and structures used to identify and prioritise research of relevance to those who plan, provide or receive NHS and other health and care services as well as providing systems and processes for research commissioning, monitoring and project management. 

* NETSCC will provide scientific secretariat support, under the direction of a Programme Director, to expert advisory committees and will advise on the prioritisation of research proposals and on commissioning decisions.

* NETSCC will be required to make all necessary arrangements for commissioning and other meetings. For example, the maintenance of committee membership lists, the production and distribution of all papers necessary well in advance of meetings, the taking of minutes of meetings (which will include discussions of science and research methodology) and the prompt circulation of accurate minutes following meetings.

* NETSCC will be responsible for the issuing of project and programme contracts (standard contract format) which will be sent for final signature to the DH Science, Research and Evidence Directorate (SRED).

* All projects and programmes will require a detailed timetable with milestones. NETSCC will monitor projects and programmes and will take receipt of regular reports ensuring that researchers keep to the timetable and achieve milestones. This will require a solid understanding of the science as well as strong administrative skills.

* NETSCC will be responsible for forecasting, profiling and reporting on annual budgets from April 1st to March 31st of each of the years covered, reporting quarterly and monitoring monthly. 

* Payments to R&D project and research infrastructure contractors are made by DH normally quarterly in arrears. NETSCC will take responsibility for informing SRED when project/ programme contracts have started in order that scheduled payments may commence, and for alerting SRED of any adverse event necessitating suspension of payments. 

* NETSCC will be required to set up and run, in liaison with SRED, financially sound and transparent accounting systems. NETSCC will be expected to adopt information management systems that are compatible with systems already in use by other parts of NIHR. NETSCC will provide progress reports, including financial summaries, in respect of the managed programmes as required. Bidders must be able to demonstrate the necessary skills to deliver this aspect of their bid.

* NETSCC will take such steps as are necessary to ensure that accurate, well presented, peer reviewed final reports and executive summaries are forthcoming promptly from all projects funded, and that these reports and summaries are entered into appropriate database and library systems. Specifically, NETSCC will deliver the NIHR Journals Library series and all outputs from NETSCC will be included in that series. Relevant NIHR funded research commissioned through the NIHR Central Commissioning facility will also be included (namely Programme Grants for Applied Research) as well as selected outputs from other funders where there is a shared interest, namely the Medical Research Council's (MRC) Methodology Research Programme.

* NETSCC will, as routine, alert the Department to forthcoming outputs through an outputs notification process, highlighting any outputs considered sensitive. As part of that process, NETSCC will, as a minimum, provide notice and copies of forthcoming publications, including press releases, arising from funded research at least 28 days prior to publication. Contractors will alert the Department immediately to such forthcoming publications and ensure that it receives advance copies as soon as these are available. 

* NETSCC will use its best endeavours to ensure, as far as possible, that intellectual property rights (IPR) of value to the NHS are properly protected and managed, and agreements are drawn up to ensure the NHS receives an appropriate share of any earnings from IPR.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/026222-2024 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Not Specified |
| Procurement method details | Not specified |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 16 Aug 2024 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 18 May 2017 |
| Contract period | 31 Mar 2018 - 31 Mar 2027 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £203,019,283 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Not specified |
| Lots status | Not specified |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Post town | South West London |
| Postcode | SW1H 0EU |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLI London |
| ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West |
| ITL 3 | TLI35 Westminster and City of London |
| Local authority | Westminster |
| Electoral ward | St James's |
| Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | DUPLICATE - UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 75 - Administration, defence and social security services
- 98 - Other community, social and personal services

### Codes

- 75120000 - Administrative services of agencies
- 98113000 - Services furnished by specialist organisations

## Release History

- 16 Aug 2024 at 15:53 - AwardUpdate - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/026222-2024

## Notice URLs

- https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:249984-2017:TEXT:EN:HTML
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/025178-2024
- https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care
- https://www.judiciary.uk/courts-and-tribunals/high-court/

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-048bd1. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-048bd1.json.