Every year, 8.1 million NHS outpatient appointments go unattended. That is not a rounding error; it is a systemic failure of communication. Worse still, it costs the NHS an estimated £1.2 billion annually. At the same time, it deepens an elective care backlog that already stretches to millions of patients. Behind each missed appointment is a person who did not receive the right message, at the right time, through the right channel.
The NHS SBS Patient/Citizen Communication, Engagement and Hybrid Mail Solutions framework (SBS10521) is the primary procurement vehicle for changing that. This framework is open to NHS trusts, integrated care boards, councils, and other public sector organisations. Through it, they have a compliant, flexible route to digital and contact-centre solutions. In turn, this helps them to reduce DNAs, improve patient experience, and accelerate the shift from analogue to digital communication.
Following the award decision in February 2026, 25 suppliers hold framework places across seven lots. For these organisations, the question is no longer how to get a place. It is how to win contracts through it.
SBS10521 replaced its predecessor SBS10175, a nine-lot framework, with a streamlined seven-lot structure. As such, it is designed to reflect how NHS and public sector communication needs have evolved. The consolidation is deliberate. Fewer, better-defined lots make it easier for commissioners to run focused further competitions. Meanwhile, it’s harder for suppliers to win call-offs on breadth of offering alone rather than depth of capability.
The seven lots cover the full spectrum of patient and citizen communication:
One feature of SBS10521 that distinguishes it from its predecessor is the embedding of artificial intelligence across all seven lots. This is not an optional enhancement or a scoring bonus for innovative suppliers. It is a structural expectation that runs through the framework from the outset. As a result, it has direct implications for how suppliers position themselves in further competitions.
Securing a place on SBS10521 was a significant achievement. But awarded status does not generate revenue. That’s because contracts are won through further competitions. These can be structured mini-tenders run by individual commissioners against suppliers in the relevant lot. Alternatively, where conditions allow, a direct award can take place. Further competition is the default route under this framework, and it is where the real commercial work begins.
When a commissioner runs a further competition, they are not re-evaluating whether you should be on the framework. They are assessing which of the awarded suppliers in their chosen lot best meets their specific requirements. To do so, they take into account their patient population, their existing systems, their timescales, and their commissioning priorities. The evaluation criteria will vary between competitions; however, quality and social value will consistently carry significant weight alongside commercial considerations.
Direct award is available where a commissioner can objectively justify selecting a specific supplier without running a full competition. For example, only one supplier may meet the technical requirements, or urgency may make competition impractical. It is the exception rather than the rule, and suppliers should not rely on it as their primary route to contract. The best strategy to consistent results includes:
For suppliers on Lots 1, 2, and 7, the further competition landscape is competitive and technically demanding. NHS commissioners evaluating digital communication solutions are not simply looking for a platform that sends appointment reminders. They are looking for a supplier whose solution:
Interoperability is one of the most practically important criteria in this category. NHS trusts operate complex, often fragmented system environments. This includes patient administration systems, electronic health records, scheduling tools, and the NHS App, which now has more than 20 million registered users. A digital communication solution that cannot connect cleanly with those systems creates implementation risks. Suppliers who can evidence seamless integration will consistently score above those whose responses describe integration capability in general terms.
Data security compliance is non-negotiable. The Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) sets the baseline for any supplier handling NHS patient data. Commissioners will, accordingly, expect to see current certification. You must ensure that you explicitly address GDPR compliance, particularly around patient consent, data retention, and the handling of survey and feedback data collected under Lot 5. A generic reference to your organisation’s data protection policy will not suffice.
Accessibility is a scored criterion, not a compliance declaration. The NHS serves populations with widely varying digital literacy, physical ability, and language. A communication platform that works well for digitally confident patients in urban areas may fail the populations that NHS commissioners are most under pressure to reach. This can include older patients, those with learning disabilities, and those whose first language is not English. Multi-language capability, alternative format support, and evidence of inclusive design testing are all relevant and scoreable, and they align directly with the NHS’s health inequalities agenda.
The evidence commissioners find most persuasive is quantified outcome data from comparable NHS deployments. DNA reduction rates, expressed as a percentage point improvement over a defined period at a named trust, carry far more weight than platform feature lists. If your solution helped a trust reduce DNAs from 12% to 8% over 12 months, that is the number that should lead your further competition response.
Lot 3 deserves specific attention because it is categorically different from the digital lots and attracts a different kind of evaluator scrutiny. Voice and contact-centre services in an NHS context are not a commoditised offering. The patient populations calling NHS contact centres include:
The consequences of poor contact-centre performance include missed escalations, inadequate signposting, and call abandonment at a critical moment. These are are not simply commercial. They are clinical.
Commissioners evaluating Lot 3 further competitions will look beyond call-handling volumes and average handling times. Firstly, they will want to understand how your IVR system is designed to prevent patients from becoming lost in automated menus when they need human support. Secondly, they will want to see your approach to intelligent call routing, and how your system identifies and escalates calls where a patient may be at clinical risk. Thirdly, they will want evidence of NHS-specific deployment: not a generic contact-centre case study, but a named NHS trust or ICB where your voice services have operated within a clinical governance framework.
Workforce training is also relevant in a way that does not apply to the digital lots. Agents handling NHS patient calls need to understand:
Bid responses that address workforce training specifically will score materially better than those that simply assert your team is highly trained.
Artificial intelligence is not a differentiator on SBS10521; it is a baseline expectation. The framework was designed with AI integration built in across all seven lots. As a result, commissioners running further competitions will increasingly expect suppliers to evidence AI capability rather than simply claim it.
What that looks like in practice varies by lot. The digital and messaging lots may look for predictive send-time optimisation, natural language processing for two-way messaging, and automated triage of patient responses. Conversational AI in IVR, real-time agent assist, and sentiment analysis are important in the voice lot. In the patient experience lot, AI drives survey analysis, thematic reporting, and the identification of emerging patient feedback patterns before they become complaints.
The evidence standard that commissioners are beginning to apply is outcomes-based, not capability-based. Describing your AI features in technical detail is less persuasive than demonstrating what they achieved. This could be a specific reduction in call-handling time, a measurable improvement in first-contact resolution, or a quantified increase in appointment confirmation rates attributable to predictive messaging. Suppliers who can make that shift will score well in AI-focused evaluation criteria.
Equally important is what AI claims your organisation should not make. Commissioners in this space have enough experience to distinguish between genuine AI-driven capability and rebranded automation. Overstating AI functionality is a credibility risk that can undermine an otherwise strong further competition response. If you cannot evidence it with data from a live NHS deployment, do not lead with it.
Social value carries significant weighting across all NHS SBS frameworks. In a patient communication context it takes on a particularly meaningful character. The populations that most need better NHS communication include those with low digital literacy, those from deprived communities, those with English as a second language. These are precisely the populations the NHS is under the greatest pressure to reach.
What does credible social value look like in this category? Commitments to co-designing communication tools with patient communities (particularly underserved ones) demonstrate genuine investment in inclusive outcomes. Partnerships with community organisations, libraries, or digital inclusion charities to support NHS patients in accessing digital communication tools are scoreable and credible. Meanwhile, workforce commitments remain relevant and expected. But in this framework, the most resonant social value narrative is the one that links your organisation’s work directly to reducing health inequalities through better, more accessible communication.
Specificity is what separates scoreable social value from background noise. Evaluators will be assessing aspects such as:
Aspirational language without accountability does not score. In a competitive further competition field, social value weighting can be the difference between winning and losing.
For suppliers not currently on SBS10521, the framework runs until February 2030. That is the renewal horizon to plan towards. The Procurement Act 2023 introduced greater flexibility for framework managers to reopen frameworks to additional suppliers during their term in certain circumstances, so it is worth monitoring the NHS SBS website and Find a Tender for any mid-term market engagement activity.
For those planning a 2030 application, the preparation window is now. NHS deployment evidence is the most valuable asset a supplier in this category can build. This can include quantified DNA reduction data, named trust references, DSPT certification history, and accessibility compliance records. Suppliers who enter the 2030 renewal with four years of NHS outcome evidence will be in a stronger position than those who begin assembling it when the tender lands.
Whether you are an awarded SBS10521 supplier preparing to compete in your first further competition, or a digital or contact-centre business building the NHS credentials you will need for the 2030 renewal, the quality of your written responses is what determines commercial outcomes.
At Bidding, we support digital and technology suppliers with bid writing and management that translates genuine technical capability into responses that score. We understand what NHS commissioners look for in communication and engagement further competitions, from DSPT and interoperability evidence to DNA reduction case studies and social value commitments. What’s more, we know how to present it in the way that wins. Our NHS framework application support covers everything from lot selection and bid strategy through to a final independent bid review before you submit.
Bidding gives digital and contact-centre suppliers the best possible chance of turning framework membership into contract wins. Get in touch today.
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