The CCG determines the kinds of health services it wants in place for the people of Ipswich and East Suffolk through its Commissioning Strategy.  

It then falls to the Procurement team to conduct tendering exercises in line with Public Contracts Regulations (2015) and the NHS Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition Regulations 2013 to help identify the best service providers, ensuring the services procured are in the right place at the right time, at the right quality, in the right quantity and at the right cost.

The Procurement Decision Register (updated Jan 2022) holds details of our current and recently completed procurements.

EOI – Expression of Interest
PQQ – Pre-Qualifying Questionnaire
ITT – Invitation to Tender

• Interested parties respond to a contract notice advertising the opportunity of a new contract – they express an interest in tendering (or bidding) for the opportunity to win the contract
• Once their EOI has been submitted Potential Bidders gain access to the Procurement documents which they must complete and return within a set period of time. These documents contain all of the information required for an organisation to make an informed decision on whether to submit a tender in response to the contract notice.
• The Procurement Documents contain documents which the Potential Bidders are required to complete which test their capacity, capability and eligibility to tender, and questions to assess their proposal in response to the service specification which has been released.
• All responses are evaluated by a panel of specialists, including patient representatives, who consider and evaluate the proposed service provision against the service specification.

Get Involved

You can be involved as much or as little as you like in helping shape healthcare provision for your community – the important thing is we listen and respond to you.  Click on the following web pages for more useful information:

Get Involved a patient and public scheme in which subscribers are invited to all events, including our annual health planning conference.

Have Your Say on how you can make a difference to your health service.

Community Engagement Partnership (CEP) is a group of up to 15 local people who share a commitment for health and a passion for making a positive difference to the healthcare services delivered to local people.

The CCG Welcomes public involvement in procurement.  If you were selected to be on the evaluation panel of a tender, you would be expected to spend several hours of your time evaluating Bidder's proposals and take one day out to attend the Moderation Day with the rest of the evaluation panel to discuss and agree final scores for each of the Bidders to determine the winning Bid.

Managing Conflicts of Interest and the Procurement Decisions Register

In adherence with requirements of the document "Managing Conflicts of Interest: Statutory Guidance for CCGs" published in December 2014 by NHS England, CCGs must maintain a register of procurement decisions (found at the top of this page) taken, which includes the details of the decision, who was involved in making the decision and a summary of any conflicts of interest in relation to the decision and how this was managed by the CCG.  This enables the CCG to demonstrate that it is acting fairly and transparently and in the best interest of its patients and local population.  A hard copy of this register can be made available upon request for viewing at the CCG's office. 

"Managing Conflicts of Interest: Statutory Guidance for CCGs" builds on the guidance issued by other national bodies, in particular Monitor's guidance on the Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition Regulations (No. 2), and guidance issued by GP professional bodies such as the British Medical Association (BMA), The General Medical Council (GMC) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP).