Part of Buyers guide
Off catalogue competitions
Budgets over £250,000 need to carry out an off catalogue competition.
Off catalogue competitions
If your budget is over £250,000 you will need to carry out an off catalogue competition. This procurement requires you to:
- issue a formal invitation to tender to suppliers
- scoring of solutions
- issuing an award
This procurement can take between 30 to 90 days to complete.
Who is involved
The teams or organisations who might use this include:
- integrated care boards (ICBs)
- GP practices
- your procurement budget is over £250,000
- you are procuring a foundation solution
This route is not suitable if procuring non foundation IT systems under the value of £250,000.
You can:
- use the on catalogue competition if you have more than one solution that meets your needs
or
- use a direct award if you only find one solution that meets your needs
Preparing for a competition
Before you start preparing for an off catalogue competition, there are a number of steps you need to take:
- complete pre procurement tasks steps
- check the Buying Catalogue for solutions available on your contracting vehicle
- choose and finalise your solutions
- identify the healthcare organisations that will be receiving the solution and services
- ensure solutions meet yours and your GP practices requirements
Note
If your procurement budget is greater than £40,000 you are obliged by law to embark on an open and fair procurement competition. This ensures public money is spent wisely and transparently. It also encourages innovation and healthy competition in the primary care IT market.
These links will provide you with more guidance on public contracts:
Next steps
Once you have completed all the above steps you will need to:
- complete your off catalogue competition
Go to running an off catalogue competition for deails of each step.
Last edited: 8 May 2026 4:43 pm