Scope
Description
NHS Surrey Heartlands initiated work in 2024 to undertake a Major Service Review (MSR) - a long-term programme to ensure that health and care services across the system are organised to meet the evolving needs of the population. The initial focus was the development of a Case for Change, intended to serve as the foundation for future transformation. However, this work was paused following national financial reset announcements that required immediate attention to financial recovery and organisational change.
As the system now prepares to create a new organisation with NHS Sussex, there is a strategic opportunity to reinitiate and align this work with a parallel programme already underway in NHS Sussex, supported by Carnall Farrar. NHS Sussex has completed early stages of their strategic work, including baseline analysis and draft case for change development. Aligning the NHS Surrey Heartlands programme with this existing work will enable a consistent, comparable analytical foundation across the future combined organisation and support the development of a single ten-year strategic financial plan. This shared approach will help us to enter the new organisational form with a coherent strategic narrative, underpinned by agreed financial and analytical outputs.
Contract 1
Supplier
Contract value
- £216,667 excluding VAT
- £260,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Earliest date the contract will be signed
1 September 2025
Contract dates (estimated)
- 1 October 2025 to 31 March 2026
- 6 months
Main procurement category
Services
Options
The right to additional purchases while the contract is valid.
• Phase 1 (Mobilisation): Focused on scoping, engagement, and building the foundations for future analysis. It will confirm working arrangements, establish governance and working groups, and define a shared methodology and data baseline. This phase will cost no more than £50,000.
• Phase 2 (Delivery): Subject to approval, this phase will deliver a full Surrey Heartlands Case for Change, including demand and financial forecasts, strategic financial modelling, and a final strategic plan. It will also identify key efficiency and investment opportunities across the system. This phase is estimated to cost £210,000 and will take place over a period of 12-16 weeks.
CPV classifications
- 79400000 - Business and management consultancy and related services
Contract locations
- UKJ2 - Surrey, East and West Sussex
Other information
Description of risks to contract performance
Key risks:
Delay to delivery timeline
This is a risk shared by the ICB and it's chosen delivery partner, Carnall Farrar. The ICB will implement monitoring to ensure that any Provider-side delays are minimised. However, it is possible that due to the impact of the impending merger with NHS Sussex ICB and the associated restructure, there may be delays due to the impact of lack of internal resource required to deliver the project for the ICB. In this event the ICB will extend the duration of the contract accordingly.
National strategy changes
This is a risk that changes to the national strategic direction, will impact the scope and timeline of this project. The ICB reserves the right to amend the scope, timeline and contract value accordingly without a further procurement procedure, under the grounds permitted for materialisation of a known risk within the PA 23.
Conflicts assessment prepared/revised
Yes
Procedure
Procedure type
Direct award
Direct award justification
Additional or repeat goods, services or works - extension or partial replacement
• NHS Sussex ICB has already competitively contracted Carnall Farrar (CF) to deliver the development of its system strategic plan. This includes population health needs analysis, financial modelling, and opportunity identification.
• NHS Surrey Heartlands ICB is now required to undertake the same programme of work, in parallel, as both organisations are merging to form a single ICB from April 2026 covering c.3 million people.
• Appointing the same supplier (CF) ensures:
o Consistency and compatibility: outputs and modelling for Surrey Heartlands must be directly comparable with Sussex to create a coherent merged plan. A change of supplier would create disproportionate technical difficulties in integration, duplication of work, and risk of inconsistent methodology.
o Economies of scale: CF's proposal is costed to deliver the Surrey element at a lower price because work is being delivered once across both systems. Using a different supplier would increase overall cost.
o Time criticality: the joint plan is needed within 2025/26 to underpin the merger and 2026/27 planning round. Running a new procurement would delay delivery and undermine alignment.
• CF also bring unique technical expertise and data access rights (including DARS and NHS data platforms) and have already mobilised for Sussex, which cannot reasonably be replicated by another supplier in the timescales required.
On this basis, the conditions for direct award are satisfied under the Procurement Act 2023 as:
• The services are additional/repeat to those already contracted by Sussex, and a change in supplier would result in incompatibility and disproportionate technical difficulties.
• There is an absence of reasonable alternative suppliers in the immediate timeframe, given the need for joint modelling and alignment with Sussex's live work.
Supplier
CARNALL FARRAR LTD
- Companies House: 09264497
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PGND-8159-HGBW
1 Lyric Square
London
W6 0NB
United Kingdom
Email: contracts@carnallfarrar.com
Website: https://www.carnallfarrar.com/
Region: UKI33 - Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham
Small or medium-sized enterprise (SME): Yes
Voluntary, community or social enterprise (VCSE): No
Contract 1
Contracting authority
NHS SURREY HEARTLANDS INTEGRATED CARE BOARD
- NHS Organisation Data Service: QXU
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PTCP-5774-GNNH
Dukes Court, Duke Street
Woking
GU21 5BH
United Kingdom
Region: UKJ25 - West Surrey
Organisation type: Public authority - central government
Other organisation
These organisations are carrying out the procurement, or part of it, on behalf of the contracting authorities.
NHS South Central and West CSU
Summary of their role in this procurement: Procurement support
- NHS Organisation Data Service: 0DF
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PXTZ-5316-XWPW
Omega House, 112 Southampton Road
Eastleigh
SO50 5PB
United Kingdom
Email: scw.opportunities@nhs.net
Website: https://www.scwcsu.nhs.uk/
Region: UKJ35 - South Hampshire