Provider Selection Regime for healthcare services

Procurement approach and policy

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough ICB has a responsibility to ensure a consistent, transparent and effective approach to the procurement, commissioning and contract management of goods, services and works.

The ICB has a Procurement Policy that outlines the key principles and considerations that will inform decision-making. This policy reflects current competition and procurement rules that apply to our services. It will be updated in line with any changes to UK/EU legislation and NHS Policy.  

Provider Selection Regime for Healthcare Services

The Provider Selection Regime (PSR) came into force on 1 January 2024.

The PSR is a set of rules for procuring health care services in England by organisations termed relevant authorities. Relevant authorities are:

• NHS England
• Integrated care boards (ICBs)
• NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts
• Local authorities and combined authorities

The PSR was introduced by regulations made under the Health and Care Act 2022. In keeping with the intent of the Act, the PSR has been designed to:

• introduce a flexible and proportionate process for deciding who should provide health care services
• provide a framework that allows collaboration to flourish across systems
• ensure that all decisions are made in the best interest of patients and service users.

The provider selection regime does not apply to the procurement of goods or non-health care services (unless as part of a mixed procurement), irrespective of whether these are procured by relevant authorities.

Provider selection processes

The PSR has three provider selection processes. These are:

Direct award process. These involve awarding contracts to providers when there is limited or no reason to seek to change from the existing provider or to assess providers against one another. This can be for one of the following reasons:

• the existing provider is the only provider that can deliver the health care services. 
• patients have a choice of providers, and the number of providers is not restricted by the relevant authority.
• the existing provider is satisfying its existing contract, will likely satisfy the new contract to a sufficient standard, and the proposed contracting arrangements are not changing considerably. 

Most suitable provider process – This involves awarding a contract to providers without running a competitive process, because the relevant authority can identify the most suitable provider.

Competitive process – This involves running a competitive process to award a contract.

Provider Selection Regime (PSR) annual summary

We have published our Provider Selection Regime (PSR) annual summary for 2024/25  on our website.