NHS Healthier You

Descriptions

Following extensive Preliminary Market Engagement with suppliers and a route to market assessment, NHS England (NHSE) is actively exploring scope to commission a range of behavioural support for obesity prescribing and diabetes prevention services, known as NHS Healthier You, through the competitive process under the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. Subject to final decisions, NHSE is intending to commence a competitive procurement process in early 2026 to award supplier contracts to deliver multiple behavioural support services to be brought together under the NHS Healthier You branding to each integrated care board (ICB) or ICB cluster in England. Scope Further to previous Preliminary Market Engagement notices (2025/S 000-052155 and 2025/S 000-021802), the proposed procurement of NHS Healthier You will comprise: Diabetes prevention: a 9-month behaviour support intervention for people at risk of type 2 diabetes. For more information visit: https://www.england.nhs.uk/diabetes/diabetes-prevention/ Behavioural support for obesity prescribing: a 9-month behaviour support intervention for people prescribed weight-loss medication in primary care.  Type 2 diabetes path to remission: a 3-month total diet replacement intervention followed by a 9-month behaviour support intervention for people living with type 2 diabetes. For more information visit: https://www.england.nhs.uk/diabetes/treatment-care/diabetes-remission/ Long-term conditions prevention pilot: a pilot 9-month behaviour support intervention for people living with hypertension. This intervention will be piloted over 3 years in 8 ICB areas (to be confirmed) with an option to expand wider as evidence emerges. Suppliers will need the capability and capacity to provide the full suite of services to an ICB or ICB cluster (or group of ICB’s), offering eligible participants a choice of group based on one to one based in-person services, group based remote services delivered via video conference, or a digitally delivered one to one or independently accessed service provided through a web browser or a mobile application. The Type 2 diabetes path to remission intervention will only be delivered on a one-to-one basis. Timescales Whilst precise procurement timelines cannot currently be confirmed, below is an indicative programme: Contract notice (call for competition) published: Q1 2026 Tender return deadline: Q2 2026 (target 8 week Tender window) Bidders notified of award decision: Q2/Q3 2026 Standstill period: Q2/Q3 2026 Contract award confirmed and contracts issued: Q2/Q3 2026 Service commencement: Q2/Q3 2026 Please note the above timelines are indicative only and subject to change. Evaluation & Stages NHSE intend to use a 3 stage evaluation process of Tenders submitted, summarised below: Stage 1 NHSE will assess an initial series of pass/fail questions, including technical capability and past experience which form the basic selection criteria (Supplier Questionnaire (SQ)) Bidders who pass the SQ will progress to Stage 2 Stage 2 NHSE will evaluate Bidder’s proposed service offer against the key criteria for all populations to be served, including commercial schedules and universal technical and quality responses and social value A maximum of the 5 highest scoring bids (across price and quality) for each ICB/ICB cluster, which also meet the relevant minimum thresholds for quality (where applicable), will progress to Stage 3 Stage 3 ICB’s/ICB clusters (or NHSE where appropriate) will evaluate specific locality technical and quality questions The highest scoring Bid by ICB/ICB cluster from Stage 3 evaluation will be offered an award of contract to deliver the full scope of the NHS Healthier You services for that ICB/ICB cluster Tackling health inequalities is a direct responsibility and a prime focus of the NHS Healthier You programme. Bidders should acknowledge they are likely to be evaluated on how they will tackle the relative disparities in access to services, patient experience and demonstrable evidence that they have the capability to improve healthcare outcomes within the geographic areas they are bidding for. It is proposed the price evaluation will be based on the total cost of delivering all Healthier You services calculated on indicative participant volumes for the full initial 3-year contract term, to include behavioural support, TDR products and monitoring equipment. Contract Term The intended contract term is 3 years, with a proposed optional extension of up to 24 months (subject to performance and budgetary approval). Pricing & Payment Models NHSE is proposing to utilise a sessional payment where providers are paid a fixed tariff per completed session per participant, based on actual activity undertaken. It is expected that Bidders will be requested to provide a common price per participant across the full range of behavioural support elements, separated according to the mode of delivery to reflect the behavioural science underpinning its model, duration, and delivery schedule intensity, i.e. face-to-face group, digital, remote group, face-to-face one-to-one. It is anticipated that NHSE will provide a guide unit price for behavioural support elements to ensure services can be delivered within our defined budget, however, it will be for Bidders to determine their own sustainable pricing, and Bidders will not be excluded for submitting pricing above or below the guide price. Bidders will be able to identify those ICB/ICB clusters they wish to bid for and will provide prices per ICB/ICB cluster. This allows Bidders to offer differing prices per ICB/ICB cluster according to indicative local population volumes and cohort profile. Bidders will be asked to provide separate pricing for total diet replacement (TDR) products and monitoring equipment under the T2DR service. It is anticipated these products and equipment will be funded in three payments during the TDR phase of the programme (week 4, 8 and 12) in line with an individual’s retention on the programme. Mobilisation costs are anticipated to be built into unit costs. Suppliers will be responsible for managing inflationary risk within the fixed price of service delivery, although an inflationary uplift is being explored for the total diet replacement (TDR) products only, due to external supply chain and manufacturing pressures unique to this component. Participation Successful Bidders should be able to provide the full range of services across all delivery modes required under NHS Healthier You, as listed above. NHSE actively encourages suppliers to enter partnership and sub-contracting arrangements with other organisations, particularly small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s) or specialist providers who can contribute niche expertise, regional delivery strength, or digital innovation through a lead provider or other joint venture model, in order to build the required capabilities and capacity to deliver the full scope of the services. Digital Service Model Requirements Bidders will be required to demonstrate access to an existing, operational web browser or mobile application that will underpin the digital service model. Bidders (or their nominated digital sub-contractor) will be required to provide a live download link or installation route and test credentials to enable NHSE to review the core functionality of the app or web-based content. Bidders will also be required to confirm they hold the necessary intellectual property rights (IP) to deploy and configure the platform for the purposes of delivering the Healthier You service. Bidders will need to ensure compliance with the latest version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These requirements will be tested at Stage 1 evaluation (SQ) as pass/fail questions.  Cyber Security Requirements Bidders will need to demonstrate they (or their relevant sub-contractor(s)) hold, or will hold prior to service commencement, the Cyber Essentials Plus and/or ISO 27001 certification and have undertaken subsequent penetration testing carried out under the NCSC CHECK scheme. Pre-Tender Briefing Session In order to assist potential Bidders prepare for the release of this planned procurement, NHSE will hold a Pre-Tender Briefing Session ahead of Tender release, in the first quarter of 2026. Details of the date and time of the session will be released in early 2026 via the Atamis e-sourcing portal https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome. Potential Bidders are encouraged to register their interest in this planned procurement to receive the session details. Please Note: This notice does not constitute a call for competition in its own right All information contained within this notice is still indicative and not yet confirmed NHS England reserve the right to change any part of the process for this planned procurement and engage further where appropriate to further inform the final approach It is not intended this Planned Procurement Notice will be used as a “qualifying” notice to reduce the Tender period Full details of any planned procurement will be finalised and released at Invitation to Tender (ITT) stage, which will be issued under a separate Contract Notice published via the Find a Tender service Any questions in relation to this notice or planned procurement should be submitted via the Atamis portal