QinetiQ Commerce Decisions supports the Commissioning Business Service Healthcare Contracting Team in procuring support services for Salford Primary Care Trust

13th November 09 - Oxford, UK - QinetiQ Commerce Decisions, a leading provider of software and services to support through-life procurement and delivery processes, has supported the NHS Commissioning Business Service Healthcare Contracting Team in selecting a preferred provider to deliver a Young People's Sexual Health Service for Salford Primary Care Trust Salford.

The Commissioning Business Service (CBS) was created by the Association of Greater Manchester Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) to assist them in the development of commissioning activities as an NHS stand-alone agency along management consultancy lines supporting healthcare services. The CBS Healthcare Contracting Team (HCT) provides specialist public sector procurement, legal and market management support to commissioners responsible for delivering better healthcare services.  They have delivered more than 40 healthcare projects. The CBS team's expertise and processes are underpinned by the use of cutting-edge e-tendering and e-evaluation tools.

"We worked very closely with the QinetiQ Commerce Decisions consultants to help us set this project up and they played a crucial role in developing the approach." commented Lesley Kippax, Strategic Procurement and Market Manager, Greater Manchester CBS. "AWARD software hugely sped up the evaluation process, providing us with a robust outcome. It increased the efficiency of the procurement, was easy to use and gave us an update on progress in real time."

The AWARD software is a collaborative web-based software solution designed specifically to support the strategic procurement process from Request for Information preparation, through proposal evaluation to negotiation, delivery and post contract review. AWARD is proven to reduce time to contract, improve value for money and reduce risk. It has been used to support strategic procurements in a range of sectors including utilities, transport, local government, healthcare, aerospace and defence covering a broad range of activities including the provision of schools, hospitals, transport and defence systems across Europe and the US.

"Over the past 18 months we have seen a rapid adoption of the AWARD software by a wide range of organisations within the NHS.  AWARD has now been deployed  by numerous NHS Agencies including NHS PASA, Collaborative Procurement Hubs, Foundation Trusts and PCTs to add value and reduce risk to their complex procurement and commissioning projects.  In the PCT sector , AWARD has been identified by our customers as providing a mechanism to deliver competencies 9 and 10 of World Class Commissioning and as such has been used to successfully deliver over 60 projects to date," said John Thompson, MD, QinetiQ Commerce Decisions.