---
title: "Primary Care Orthodontic Services"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-06f637"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06f637"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06f637.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06f637.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "NHS NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK INTEGRATED CARE BOARD"
published: "2026-09-10"
---

# Primary Care Orthodontic Services

Buyer: NHS NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK INTEGRATED CARE BOARD  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-06f637

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## Summary

NHS Norfolk and Suffolk Integrated Care Board commissioned primary care orthodontic services for children and young people aged 12 to 18. Patients enter the pathway through their general dental practice, with treatment delivered in primary care settings. The service covers assessment, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of malocclusion and facial deformity, taking account of oral health, patient cooperation, motivation and treatment complexity. It is specialist dental healthcare requiring orthodontic clinical expertise and a stable clinical environment. Delivery is centred on Ipswich and the surrounding Suffolk area. The requirement is intended to support patient oral health and psychosocial wellbeing, equitable access, service integration and longer-term workforce and estate planning. The buyer is NHS Norfolk and Suffolk Integrated Care Board, based in Norwich.

The procurement has been awarded through Direct Award Process C under the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023, using a limited procedure without a prior call for competition. Suffolk Orthodontic Practice was selected as the existing provider; the contract was signed on 24 August 2026 and has a value of £8,740,068. The contract runs for 10 years, from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2037, with annual payments. One bid was recorded, from an SME. Evaluation was based entirely on quality, with price carrying no weighting. The decision considered quality and innovation, value, integration and sustainability, access and health inequalities, choice, and social value. Representations were due by midnight on 23 September 2026.

This award indicates demand for specialist orthodontic provision for teenagers through NHS primary care, rather than general dental treatment alone. A credible future competitor would need appropriately qualified orthodontic clinicians, capacity to manage referrals from general dental practices, and premises suitable for sustained specialist delivery. The service model favours providers able to maintain safe, effective treatment across different levels of orthodontic complexity while supporting patient cooperation, motivation and oral hygiene. Evidence of reliable performance, service integration and collaboration with the wider healthcare system would be important. Providers would also need to demonstrate equitable access, work to reduce health inequalities, support patient choice and contribute to social value, including environmental improvement and carbon reduction. Workforce recruitment, retention and long-term service planning are central commercial considerations for this buyer.

## Notice

Orthodontics is the dental specialty concerned with facial growth, development of the dentition and occlusion, and the assessment, diagnosis, interception and treatment of malocclusions and facial deformity. Orthodontic treatment should only be undertaken where it is believed to be in the patient's best interests in terms of their oral health and/ or psychosocial wellbeing. The clinical advantages and long-term benefits of Orthodontic treatment should justify and outweigh any detrimental effects. Patient factors to consider include co-operation, motivation and their ability to maintain good oral hygiene. It is not generally in the patient's best interest to deliver orthodontic treatment in the absence of a stable oral environment or where there is evidence of active dental disease. There are several factors used to define orthodontic treatment complexity which can be classified as level 1, 2, 3a or 3b. Factors include the type of malocclusion, technical difficulty in improving function and aesthetics, together with any patient modifying factors.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

Primary care orthodontic services for children and young people aged 12 -18 years. Patients are referred into the pathway via their general dental practice. All services take place within a primary care setting. 10 year PDS Agreement contract terms for primary care orthodontic services are motivated by the need to support service stability, workforce sustainability and long term planning, in line with the findings of the Orthodontic Needs Assessment (2026) and wider system pressures. Orthodontic service delivery is dependent on a specialist workforce, with recruitment and retention recognised nationally and locally as challenging. Longer term contract arrangements provide greater certainty for providers, enabling workforce planning and retention of specialist orthodontic clinicians and reduced disruption linked with shorter contract terms. In addition, this will support estates and service investment, particularly where providers are delivering specialist orthodontic care from dedicated premises. A 10-year term offers providers sufficient assurance to invest in infrastructure and incentivises support for service redesign aligned to population need. The length of the contract will be 10 years to start 1 April 2027 and end 31 March 2037. Providers will be paid annually for the period of 10 years. NHS Norfolk and Suffolk Integrated Care Board are awarding the contract named within this notice under the Direct Award C process which is outlined within the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. The provider named in this notice is an existing provider and has been reviewed through a Key Criteria assessment to ensure the awarding body is satisfied with current performance and reasonably expects the provider to be able to satisfy the contract which is the subject of this notice. The contract which is the subject of this notice has not changed considerably when compared with the existing contract delivered by the named provider. The ICB may wish to introduce additional services during the lifetime of the contract ("Contract modifications"). Such contract modifications will be contemplated where additional requirements are similar and or complementary to the services already included

### Procurement Information

Other justification for the award of the contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the Official Journal of the European Union or the Find a Tender Service: The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the regulations. This is a Provider Selection Regime (PSR) intention to award notice. The awarding of this contract is subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Procurement Act 2023 do not apply to this award. The publication of this notice marks the start of the standstill period. Representations by providers must be made to decision makers by midnight 23rd September 2026 (8 working days following publication of intention to award notice). They should be submitted in writing to nsibc.procurement@nhs.net This contract has not yet formally been awarded; this notice serves as an intention to award under the PSR. Insert Award decision-makers: Dental and Optometry Delivery Group Primary Care Commissioning Group and ratified by the Executive Management Team on 24th August 2026 * No conflicts of interest, or potential conflicts of interest, were declared by any decision makers. The decision to award this contract in line with Direct Award Process C was based on evaluation against the five required key criteria as follows: * Quality and Innovation - Assured - NS ICB are assured that the provider is delivering a safe and effective service as required by the specification and contract they are currently delivering. This criterion was reviewed in line with the Quality Impact Assessment. * Value - Part Assured - NS ICB are assured that the provider is delivering value to the integrated care system and the cost of change would not be outweighed by the potential benefit of a new provider. * Integration, Collaboration and Service Sustainability - Assured - NS ICB are assured that the provider is positively impacting on the integrated care system through their integration and collaboration delivered as a requirement of the specification or alternative elements linked to the delivery. * Improving Access, Reducing Health Inequalities and Facilitating Choice - Assured - NS ICB are assured that the provider is meeting needs of the population to ensure equitable access and choice as required by the specification and contract. This criterion was reviewed in line with the Equality Impact Assessment. * Social Value - Assured - NS ICB are assured that the provider is delivering in line with the NS Green Plan, supporting with the implementation of carbon reduction and increase in initiatives which positively impact on the wider determinants of health. This criterion was reviewed in line with the Sustainability Impact Assessment.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/085630-2026 |
| 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 |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 10 Sep 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £8,740,068 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Cancelled |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | NHS NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK INTEGRATED CARE BOARD |
| Locality | NORWICH |
| Postcode area | Norwich |
| Postcode | NR1 2DH |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLH East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLH5 Norfolk |
| ITL 3 | TLH51 Norwich and East Norfolk |
| Local authority | Norwich |
| Electoral ward | Lakenham |
| Westminster constituency | Norwich South |
| Delivery location | TLH14 Suffolk CC |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | Suffolk Orthodontic Practice |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 85 - Health and social work services

### Codes

- 85130000 - Dental practice and related services

## Release History

- 10 Sep 2026 at 08:48 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/085630-2026

## Notice URLs

- https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:999999-2099:TEXT:EN:HTML
- https://www.norfolkandsuffolk.icb.nhs.uk/

## 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-06f637. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06f637.json.