Procurement in a Nutshell: Independent Patient Choice and Procurement Panel: CR0050-26 & CR0052-26

The PSR removes the procurement of healthcare services from the scope of the Procurement Act 2023, which came into force from 24 February 2025.

The PSR applies to NHS England, Integrated Care Boards, NHS Trusts, NHS Foundation Trusts, local authorities and combined authorities when they are procuring relevant healthcare services.

To access the full decision, please click here.

Background

The Independent Patient Choice and Procurement Panel (the Panel) provides advice under the PSR to relevant authorities in circumstances where a provider is aggrieved by an award decision, and the provider believes the PSR Regulations have not been complied with.

The role of the Panel is to provide independent expert advice (as referred to in Regulation 23 of the PSR Regulations) and publish this advice for each review it undertakes.

Relevant authorities should note that, while the advice of the Panel is not legally binding, it is highly persuasive.

The facts

On 25 March 2026, Poplar Grove Practice (Poplar Grove) asked the Independent Patient Choice and Procurement Panel (the Panel) to advise on the provider selection process conducted by NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board (BOB ICB) for Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS) at the Mandeville Practice.

On 30 March 2026, the Panel received a second request for advice, from Primary Care Management Solutions Ltd (PCMS), regarding the same provider selection process.

PCMS’s contract for the Mandeville Practice was due to expire on 31 March 2026. BOB ICB published a Prior Information Notice (PIN) on 18 July 2024, indicating that it was looking to re-procure the contract. BOB ICB said its expectation was that the new contract holder would “continue to build the registered list of patients” in line with the anticipated local population growth. Five providers completed market engagement questionnaires in response to the PIN.

On 15 July 2025, BOB ICB published a notice setting out its intention to follow the competitive process to select a provider for the new Mandeville Practice contract. The contract has an eight year duration, with options to extend by an initial four years and then a further three years. The original start date was intended to be 1 April 2026 and the total value over the full fifteen year duration is approximately £20.4 million (excluding VAT).

By the 22 August 2025 deadline, BOB ICB received bids from nine providers. On 1 December 2025, BOB ICB informed bidders of the outcome of the provider selection process and published an intention to award notice announcing Operose Health as the successful bidder.

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The decision

The Panel found that the provider selection process carried out by BOB ICB for the Mandeville Practice gave rise to three breaches of PSR regulations:

1. In failing to seek clarification from Poplar Grove and PCMS concerning their representations, BOB ICB breached the PSR Regulation 12(4)(a) which requires commissioners to afford providers further opportunity to explain or clarify their representations.
2. BOB ICB did not sufficiently set out its reasons for dismissing Poplar Grove’s and PCMS’s representations, and therefore breached PSR Regulation 4 which requires commissioners to act transparently and fairly.
3. In BOB ICB setting a shorter deadline for Poplar Grove’s representations, this breaching PSR Regulation 12(3) which sets the prescribed time for the submission of representations.

The Panel’s view is that the breaches identified above did not have  a material effect on BOB ICB’s selection of a provider. The breaches identified all relate to the conduct of BOB ICB’s representations review process, and shortcomings in the local representations review process have been address through the Panel’s own review of Poplar Grove’s and PCMS’s representations.

The Panel did not find any breaches of the PSR regulations in relation to the conduct of the provider selection process in the lead up to the contract award decision. Therefore, the Panel’s advice is that the ICB should proceed with awarding the contract.

For further information please contact Tim Care or Melanie Pears in our Public Sector team.