---
title: "Consultancy and advisory services_Leadership and professional development programme_Bands 7 & 8a"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-05dff6"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-05dff6"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05dff6.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05dff6.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "EAST KENT HOSPITALS UNIVERSITY NHS FOUNDATION TRUST"
published: "2025-11-12"
---

# Consultancy and advisory services_Leadership and professional development programme_Bands 7 & 8a

Buyer: EAST KENT HOSPITALS UNIVERSITY NHS FOUNDATION TRUST  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-05dff6

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## Summary

The East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, acting as the buying organisation, has initiated a direct award process for a contract concerning consultancy and advisory services. The focus of this contract is a leadership and professional development programme for Nurses, Midwives, and AHPs at Agenda for Change bands 7 and 8a. This programme will extend from December 2025 to July 2026 and will take place in Canterbury, United Kingdom, under the industry category of Business and Management Consultancy Services. The procurement stage is currently at the award stage, with the contract amounting to a gross value of £208,440. Interested parties must submit any representations regarding the award decision by midnight on 24th November 2025, and the contract period is set from 27th November 2025 to 31st July 2026.

This tender presents substantial opportunities for businesses specialising in leadership development and professional training, particularly those that can provide seasoned facilitators and actors for experiential learning modules. SMEs, such as Robert Dickson Consulting Ltd, which has been identified as the supplier for this contract, are well-poised to benefit, given the programme's requirements. Additionally, firms capable of ensuring high participant engagement despite potential staffing and workload pressures within the NHS are likely to thrive. This contract offers a chance to build a reputation in delivering critical leadership programmes within the healthcare sector, thus fostering business growth and potentially securing further contracts in the public health domain.

## Notice

In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Procurement Act 2023, 2gether Support Solutions, on behalf of the Contracting Authority is looking to direct award a contract for the provision of a leadership development programme for delivery to the Contracting Authority's employed Nurses, Midwives and AHPs (Agenda for Change bands 7 and 8a), across six cohorts (three cohorts per banding) between December 2025 to July 2026. All workshops are to be delivered with two facilitators per session, with the programme structured into multiple modules, include one module which incorporates three professional actors for experiential learning.

### Procurement Information

This direct award is made under the provisions of the Procurement Act 2023, Schedule 5, which permits the Contracting Authority to award a contract without competition where extreme and unavoidable urgency renders compliance with standard procurement procedures impracticable. The urgency arises because the previous procurement process conducted under a Public Contracts Regulations 2015 compliant national framework agreement was terminated following internal determination that the proposed award was not viable. These issues were identified during governance review and could not reasonably have been foreseen at the outset of the procurement. As a result, the Contracting Authority is now faced with an immediate and critical need to secure consultancy and advisory services_Leadership and professional development programme to maintain continuity of essential services. Restarting a full competitive procedure would introduce delays incompatible with statutory obligations and operational requirements, creating significant risk of consequences, e.g., patient safety compromise, regulatory non-compliance, or operational disruption. Alternative procurement routes, including framework call-offs and expedited competitions, were assessed but found to be infeasible within the required timeframe. This direct award is therefore necessary to address the urgent requirement and is strictly limited to the scope and duration required to mitigate the risk. Future requirements will be subject to a compliant competitive process. In accordance with Section 44 of the Procurement Act 2023, this Transparency Notice is published prior to contract award, and the Contracting Authority will observe the mandatory standstill period to allow representations from interested parties. The standstill period begins on the day after the publication of this notice. Representations by capable, experienced and suitable providers must be made to the Contracting Authority's decision makers before midnight on 24th November 2025. Any representations must be made in writing to email address: ekh-tr.procurement@nhs.net, with the subject line titled 'C401193_PA2023_Representations_[insert your company name]'. This contract has not yet formally been awarded; this notice serves as an intention to award under the Procurement Act 2023. This direct award decision has been made a per the Contracting Authority's governance processes, with decision makers being the Contracting Authority's Chief Finance Officer and Chief Nurse and Midwifery Officer. No declared conflicts or potential conflicts of interest of the individuals making the decision were identified.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/073341-2025 |
| Notice type | UK5 - Transparency Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Direct |
| Procurement method details | Direct award |
| Tender suitability | SME, VCSE |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 12 Nov 2025 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 12 Nov 2025 |
| Contract period | 27 Nov 2025 - 31 Jul 2026 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | £173,700 |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Pending |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | EAST KENT HOSPITALS UNIVERSITY NHS FOUNDATION TRUST |
| Locality | CANTERBURY |
| Post town | Canterbury |
| Postcode | CT1 3NG |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLJ South East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLJ4 Kent |
| ITL 3 | TLJ44 East Kent |
| Local authority | Canterbury |
| Electoral ward | Barton |
| Westminster constituency | Canterbury |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | ROBERT DICKSON CONSULTING |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

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

### Codes

- 79410000 - Business and management consultancy services

## Release History

- 12 Nov 2025 at 17:25 - Award - UK5 - Transparency Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/073341-2025

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/073341-2025
  12th November 2025 - Transparency notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://www.ekhuft.nhs.uk/
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents

## 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-05dff6. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05dff6.json.