The NHS is in the middle of the most significant digital transformation in its history. Cloud infrastructure is at the heart of it. It is enabling integrated care systems to share data across sites, supporting remote working for clinical and administrative staff, underpinning AI diagnostics, and making it possible for NHS organisations to modernise without the overhead of maintaining ageing on-premises systems. For digital suppliers, the opportunity is enormous. The question is how to access it in a way that is commercially efficient, compliant, and competitive.
The NHS SBS Cloud Solutions 2 framework is one of the most important answers to that question. For cloud consultancies, infrastructure providers, managed service specialists, and end-to-end solution partners, it provides a direct, compliant route to NHS and wider public sector buyers without the cost and time burden of responding to individual open tenders. Understanding how it works, and what it takes to win a place and convert that place into contracts, is essential for any digital supplier serious about this market.
Launched in April 2024, Cloud Solutions 2 is NHS SBS’s primary framework for the procurement of cloud services across the NHS and wider UK public sector. It covers everything from initial cloud readiness assessments and architecture consultancy through to infrastructure and platform services, managed support, and fully integrated end-to-end cloud solutions. With an estimated value of up to £500 million and 34 awarded suppliers, it is one of the most substantial and active frameworks in the NHS SBS Digital & IT portfolio.
The framework matters to digital suppliers for a straightforward reason: it removes the procurement barrier. NHS trusts, integrated care boards, local authorities, and other approved public sector organisations can use it to procure cloud services compliantly without running a full open tender process for every engagement. They can run a mini-competition between framework suppliers in the relevant lot, or, where the conditions are met, make a direct award. Either way, being on the framework puts your organisation in the room for opportunities that are otherwise inaccessible without a lengthy separate procurement process.
It was procured under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and is open to NHS and UK public sector organisations broadly, making its potential buyer base one of the widest of any NHS SBS framework.
NHS SBS has structured Cloud Solutions 2 deliberately to guide buyers through their cloud journey. This includes those first considering a move to cloud through to full deployment and ongoing support. That structure has direct implications for suppliers. Each lot attracts a different type of buyer need and a different type of competing supplier.
This lot covers cloud readiness assessments, architecture design, migration planning, and advisory services. It is the natural home for cloud consultancies, advisory firms, and specialist architects. Buyers here are typically at the beginning of their cloud journey, or making a significant strategic decision about platform or architecture. Responses need to demonstrate deep technical advisory capability and structured methodology. Critically, you must also show genuine familiarity with the NHS digital landscape and its specific constraints.
This is the broadest lot by scope. It covers infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and software as a service solutions. It is thus the natural home for hyperscale cloud partners, resellers, and platform providers. The buyer profile here can be varied. It may include, for example, an NHS trust looking to migrate workloads to a modern cloud environment. Meanwhile, it can also cover an ICB sourcing a specific SaaS application. Commercial model clarity (how your pricing works in practice, at NHS scale) is a significant differentiator.
This lot covers ongoing managed support, helpdesk services, and software asset management. Managed service providers are the natural fit here. Buyers are typically organisations that have already made their cloud transition and need ongoing operational support. Case studies that demonstrate sustained delivery performance, service level achievement, and the ability to flex capacity as NHS demand changes are particularly valuable in this lot.
This is the most complex and highest-value lot, covering complete cloud solutions from design through deployment to support. It suits large system integrators and delivery-focused suppliers with the capability to manage multi-component, multi-supplier engagements at scale. The bar for demonstrating delivery capability is correspondingly high. Evaluators want evidence of end-to-end programme management in environments of comparable complexity to NHS digital transformation.
Suppliers can bid for more than one lot, and many of the 34 awarded suppliers hold places across several. Whether to do so is a genuinely strategic question. Bidding across multiple lots demands proportionally more evidence and more carefully tailored responses. Winning one lot with a compelling, well-evidenced submission will consistently outperform spreading thinly across three or four.
Cloud Solutions 2 expires on 24 April 2026. The framework includes an option to extend for periods of up to 24 months, which would potentially take it through to April 2028. At the time of writing, no successor tender notice or Prior Information Notice for a Cloud Solutions 3 framework has been published on Find a Tender, and no public announcement of the extension decision has been made by NHS SBS.
This creates two different situations depending on where you stand.
For suppliers currently on SBS10256, the most important thing is to stay close to NHS SBS communications. Whether the framework is extended or replaced will determine your next move. In either scenario, the strength of your position will depend on the quality of the delivery track record and case study evidence you have been building during your time on the framework.
For suppliers not currently on the framework, the realistic path is preparation. The window for the current framework may have closed or be closing imminently. A successor framework, whether an extended SBS10256 or a new Cloud Solutions 3, will follow.
The organisations that will be best placed to win a place on it are those that use the intervening period to document NHS-relevant deployment outcomes, gather client references, and align their positioning to the NHS digital standards agenda. Monitor Find a Tender and the SAP Ariba portal regularly, and ensure your registration on both is current. NHS SBS issues all its opportunities through Ariba, so missing the publication notice on a framework of this scale is an avoidable risk.
Thirty-four suppliers is a large awarded cohort by NHS SBS standards. But the more significant factor is the breadth of the supplier list. Cloud Solutions 2 includes Accenture, Deloitte, EY, IBM, and KPMG. There are also specialist cloud consultancies, SME resellers, and niche managed service providers. It is one of the few NHS SBS frameworks where global system integrators and small independent consultancies are competing for the same mini-competitions.
That dynamic cuts both ways. For smaller or specialist suppliers, the presence of household names can feel intimidating. In practice, however, large suppliers frequently submit responses that are broad in scope but thin in NHS-specific detail.
A focused, deeply evidenced bid from a specialist provider, meanwhile, has major advantages. You have the ability to demonstrate genuine understanding of NHS digital transformation priorities, ICB governance structures, and the practical realities of deploying cloud in a complex healthcare environment. This will consistently outscore a generic response from a larger organisation that hasn’t invested the same care in tailoring its submission.
For buyers, having real choice is the point. NHS trusts and ICBs running mini-competitions through this framework are looking for the right fit for their specific challenge, not the biggest brand in the room. That is an opportunity that well-prepared smaller suppliers should not underestimate.
Working with the NHS is different from working with generic public sector clients. As a result, bids that treat the two as equivalent will underperform. The most consistently successful cloud framework applications share a number of characteristics.
Even experienced digital suppliers make avoidable errors in framework applications. The most frequent ones we encounter include:
Can SMEs apply for Cloud Solutions 2?
Yes. The framework is explicitly open to organisations of all sizes, and a number of the current 34 awarded suppliers are SMEs. NHS SBS actively encourages SME participation and provides guidance to support smaller organisations through the application process.
Do we need existing NHS clients to apply?
Not necessarily, but NHS-relevant evidence is important for demonstrating readiness to operate in an NHS context. This can include evidence from comparable public sector environments, regulated industries, or complex data environments. The stronger and more specific your evidence, the better.
What if the framework is extended rather than replaced?
A 24-month extension would take SBS10256 through to April 2028. If that happens, new suppliers would need to wait for the extension period to conclude before a new framework opportunity arises. This makes staying close to NHS SBS communications, and being ready to move quickly when a successor is announced, particularly important.
Whether you are preparing a first application for an NHS SBS cloud framework or strengthening your position ahead of a renewal, the quality of your written submission will determine the outcome. NHS framework application support from a team that understands both NHS procurement and what bid writing and management excellence looks like in practice is the most direct way to improve your chances.
At Bidding, we support cloud and digital suppliers at every stage of the process, from bid strategy and positioning through to writing, reviewing and refining submissions under time pressure. With deep experience of NHS Digital & IT frameworks, we know what it takes to stand out in a field of 34 competing suppliers.
Cloud Solutions 2 is a high-value, high-competition framework at a pivotal renewal point. Whether the clock is running on your current place or you are positioning for the next opportunity, Bidding can help you make the most of it. Get in touch and let’s talk about what your bid needs to succeed.
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