Healthcare Clinical Waste Services for Primary Care: 11 Midlands Region NHS ICBs

The 11 Midlands Region NHS Integrated Care Boards are inviting suitably qualified suppliers to provide Clinical Waste Collection and Disposal Services from Primary Care waste producing sites, these being General Practice (GPs) and Community Pharmacy (CP) settings across the geographical footprint of each of the 11 Midlands Region NHS Integrated Care Boards as set out in table 1.1 of Document 1 to this opportunity. These 11 ICB Commissioning organisations are separate Contracting Authorities, as listed below:

Lot 1 = NHS Birmingham and Solihull ICB

Lot 2 = NHS Black Country ICB

Lot 3 = NHS Coventry and Warwickshire ICB

Lot 4 = NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICB

Lot 5 = NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB

Lot 6 = NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICB

Lot 7 = NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB

Lot 8 = NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB

Lot 9 = NHS Lincolnshire ICB

Lot 10 = NHS Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland ICB

Lot 11 = NHS Northamptonshire ICB

Each of the individual 11 ICBs are looking for a Supplier to deliver a Clinical Waste Collection and Disposal Service within their geographical area that:

1. Understands the importance of this collection service for our Waste Producer who deliver key services to the local population
2. Ensures collections are as scheduled and communicated to the GPs and Community Pharmacies with replacement consumables provided as required to Tier 1 Defined Active Waste Producers, Tier 2 Defined Pending Waste Producers and Tier 3 Undefined Pending Waste Procedures. Definitions of the Waste Provider Tiers are located in Document 5 Specification, section 5 Waste Producer Tiers.
3. Complies with regulatory requirements for safe and sustainable management of healthcare waste
4. Supports a circular economy concept of reducing, recycling and reusing waste
5. Supports the Greener NHS and the carbon reduction target
6. Supports each ICB’s cost reduction target of 50% set out by NHS England

The Supplier will be required to demonstrate appropriate capability and infrastructure to enable the delivery of the service.

For specific note, the Document 1 sets out the following:

Please refer to Document 5 - Schedule 5 Service Specification, paragraph 5.5, which states that each Waste Producer is assigned a tier:

Tier 1: Defined/Active Waste Producers

Active Waste Producers are defined as Waste Producers which form the majority of the Service Requirements, and the core group of Waste Producers receiving Services.

The Supplier will be required to provide Services to all Active Waste Producers from the Services Commencement Date.

Tier 2: Defined/Pending Waste Producers

“Pending Waste Producers” are defined as Waste Producers which can be defined/detailed but are not Active Waste Producers on the Services Commencement Date because they have other existing arrangements in place. It is intended that these Waste Producers will become Active Waste Producers following during the Term in accordance with Document 5 – Specification and or Document 6 – the Contract.

The Service Requirements of Tier 2 Waste Producers will not form part of the Services until such time as the Authority notifies the Supplier that a Tier 2 Waste Producer is Active. Once a Tier 2 is designated by the Authority an Active Waste Producer, their Service Requirements shall form part of the Services. For the avoidance of doubt, no Change Control Process is required where a Tier 2 Waste Producer becomes Active and such change is solely at the discretion of the Authority.

Tier 3: Undefined/Pending Waste Producer(s)

These are other Waste Producers who have similar Service Requirements to Tier 1 and 2 Waste Producers who are unknown / undefined at the Services Commencement Date and may be added during the Term following completion of the Change Control Process (Schedule 13 of Document 6 - Contract).

Examples of Waste Producers covered within Tier 3 include, but are not limited to:

Other GP sites not included within Tier 1 and Tier 2 (as set out in Clauses 5.5.1 and 5.5.2 in Document 5 Specification) due to other existing arrangements or insufficient data available to include within the Service Requirements. This is estimated to be <1% of all GPs in England.

Community Pharmacy Influenza Vaccination Scheme waste, which responsibility for commissioning currently sits with the Waste Producer themselves. There are approximately 1700 Community Pharmacies offering this service.

Home Patients waste, i.e. any waste generated by clinicians or the patient themselves in a residential setting (e.g. diabetes sharps, home based dialysis, virtual wards). This may be collected via other NHS premises (e.g. GP/ Community Pharmacy) or the patient’s own home.

Any other NHS services provided by new or existing primary care sites (e.g. Enhanced Services, pop-up clinics/vaccine sites), which are introduced during the Term. The Successful Bidder will need to anticipate possible changes to Service Requirements as NHS services evolve and change over time.

As a result of this procurement exercise, a separate contract (NHS Terms and Conditions for the Supply of Goods and Services) will be established with each Successful Bidder for each of the eleven (11) Lots as set out in table 1.7 of Document 1 ITT process overview’ (which can be found in the supplier documents folder found in the Supplier Document Folders | Salesforce for this opportunity. A contract for an initial duration of 6 years will be awarded with the option for the Contracting Authority in each instance to extend for a period or periods of up to a further 4 years (maximum contract duration of 10 years).

Please note: Over the past few months, the Authority has been working on the service requirements, documentation, and process to ensure it reflects our service needs and meets the new Procurement Act 2023 (PA23). Consequently, please be aware that the documents published may differ from those previously published as part of our preliminary market engagement discussions and Bidders MUST read all the attached documentation to understanding the requirements, prior to completing the response documentation.

For specific notice, a UK3 notice (Notice identifier) 2025/S000-056062)was published 28th August 2025. However, the procedure identified has been amended in this opportunity, form a Competitive Flexible Procedure to a Open Procedure.

To register your interest and submit a bid, please follow the link below, and search for the project reference as detailed: health- ↗ family.force.com/s/Welcome

Project Reference: C319725

Project Title Healthcare Clinical Waste Services for Primary Care: 11 Midlands Region NHS ICBs