Healthy Start Vitamins contract, Department of Health and Social Care

Under the statutory Healthy Start Scheme, the Department of Health and Social Care procured a five year framework agreement with a value of £2.5m for the manufacture of children's vitamins for low income families with children under the age of four (who are in receipt of certain benefits). Vitamins are purchased by local public sector organisations that reclaim the cost from the Department of Health and Social Care. The ordering, supply and reimbursement arrangements are complex, with multidisciplinary support required to ensure that the scheme is maintained in line with statutory obligations.

The Department of Health and Social Care Contract Management Team carry out an assurance and capability building function. A selection of key contract management activities are carried out by the team, as well as the cross functional interactions at each contract lifecycle stage, which are set out below.

Stakeholder, supplier and market engagement stage

The Healthy Start Vitamins Policy Lead established a Virtual Procurement Team that convened weekly to plan and execute the procurement of Healthy Start Vitamins. The team included members from Complex Procurement, the Contract Management Team, Government Legal Department and NHS Business Services Authority (the Department's appointed Contract Managers for the Healthy Start Scheme), with specialist advice periodically provided by the Department's Lead Pharmacist and externally appointed subject matter experts.

The Department of Health and Social Care will make the vitamins available through its appointed storage and distribution provider and invoices and payments will be handled through a transaction processing provider. To mitigate the risks of providing the service via multiple suppliers, the Virtual Procurement Team explored the division of roles and responsibilities between the suppliers, contractual mechanisms to facilitate their cooperation and the implications for the end customer. Two market engagement events were also held with potential suppliers to scope out the specification for the products.

Procurement stage

This stage was led by the policy lead. The Contract Management Team conducted an iterative review of the procurement documentation, focusing on the contract management requirements in the terms and conditions, specification and tender evaluation questions, making recommendations to strengthen them where appropriate.

The Virtual Procurement Team maintained a risk and issue register from the outset of the process and in advance of issuing the Invitation to Tender, the Contract Management Team participated in a formal risk workshop to consider the risks associated with programme and ensure bidders' documentation was amended accordingly.

Tender evaluation was mainly conducted by NHS Business Services Authority and Policy colleagues. The Contract Management Team evaluated responses on the contract management elements of the tender questionnaire and participated in the moderation meeting.

Contract and supplier management stage

A formal handover meeting was conducted between Complex Procurement, the Contract Management Team and the NHS Business Services Authority, the appointed contract managers.

The Contract Management Team and Complex Procurement completed the Classification and Risk Tool, which categorises each contract into Gold, Silver or Bronze. The tier dictates the contract management standards that need to be fulfilled and the level of support provided by the Contract Management Team. The Healthy Start Vitamins contract is categorised as Silver.

Complex Procurement contributed to the completion of tools such as the Contract Management Plan, to ensure that the benefits of the procurement are highlighted and realised by NHS Business Services Authority. NHS Business Services Authority will compile a deliverables and obligations matrix with the support of the Contract Management Team, enabling them to monitor and improve supplier compliance.

Throughout delivery, the Contract Management Team will provide support and conduct assurance on the implementation of its standard approach to contract management.