Procurement at DHSC


Doing business with DHSC

Atamis is now the Department of Health and Social Care’s primary e-tendering portal.

From 1 June 2020, invitations to tender and expressions of interest will be published on Atamis.

Register for Atamis

Search for DHSC contract opportunities on Contracts Finder. You’ll also find details of contracts worth over £10,000 that DHSC has awarded in the past.

If there’s a DHSC tender you want to take part in, register on the Atamis portal and read the opportunities section. This will show you current DHSC opportunities as well as some global opportunities across other government departments:

Questions about procurement

If you have a question about procurement, please contact us using the details on the DHSC main page.

DHSC commercial terms and conditions of contract (non-framework)

The following contract templates can be used in the majority of cases when bidding for a DHSC contract. An exception is for procurements via a Crown Commercial Service framework, where the relevant call-off contract will be included in the invitation to tender. 

Contract-specific clauses and schedules can be amended, or added to, as appropriate.

Tier 1: below procurement threshold - use the Cabinet Office short form contract

Tier 2: above procurement threshold - choose from the DHSC suite of conditions of contract:

Tier 3: high value and/or complex procurement (typically more than £20 million) - use the Cabinet Office model services contract.

Terms and conditions for goods and services - purchase order version

The terms and conditions for goods and services - purchase order version is a shortened version of the Cabinet Office short form contract.

DHSC short form contract (PDF, 287 KB, 24 pages)

Prompt payment

DHSC is committed to paying suppliers and organisations promptly.

DHSC has a mandatory purchase order policy – suppliers should always request a purchase order number to allow invoices to be paid promptly. Invoices without purchase orders will not be paid.

If the purchase order is for a specified period, and an extension is required, you must arrange the contractual side first before a revised purchase order is issued. You should also ensure that prices, quantities and description formats do not differ from those on the purchase order.

DHSC aims to exceed the government’s target to pay 90% of undisputed invoices within 5 days, and 100% of undisputed invoices within 30 days.

Email all invoices in PDF format to accountspayable@dhsc.gov.uk.

DHSC supplier code of conduct

This sets out the standards and behaviours we expect of suppliers contracted to support our work.

Procurement for small and medium-sized enterprises

Our small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) action plan sets out what we’re doing to make it easier for SMEs to become DHSC suppliers.