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Find a TenderPast planning noticePreliminary market engagement notice
Published 5 Jun 2025, 14:38 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Unlicensed and Specials Medicines

Official notice

Authority: Regional Business Services Organisation Procurement and Logistics Service (Central government)

Framework agreementServicesBelow threshold
Sectors: Medical Devices & Pharma (33)Health & Social Care (85) Delivery: Delivery location not published
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Framework period 4 yrsends 30 Apr 2030 · starts 1 May 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Health and Social Care Trusts (HSC) in Northern Ireland plan to tender for Unlicensed Medicines and Specials later this year.

In order to assist with the development of a service specification and an appropriate methodology for the assessment of tenders, we are keen to engage with suppliers who would be willing to provide unlicensed and, or specials medicines to Health Trusts in Northern Ireland. The purpose of the engagement is to aid our understanding of current market conditions and capacity. The HSC intend to establish a multi-supplier framework which will cater for four categories of medicines:

  1. Aseptically prepared unlicensed medicines,
  2. Imported specials,
  3. Non-aseptic specials,
  4. Over-labelled medicines.

We hope that the Preliminary Market Engagement (PME) will help encourage supplier interest in this tender. It will also help us understand any barriers to tendering that suppliers currently face so these can be considered when drafting the HSC tender.

CPV: Pharmaceutical products · Pharmacy services

How this framework works

From the published notice
Framework period
4 yrs from 1 May 2026

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 4 yrs
Contract period: 1 May 2026 – 30 Apr 2030 (4 yrs)
33600000 Pharmaceutical products85149000 Pharmacy services

What it takes to win
i

How this buyer will score bids.

The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).

Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add more
What this means for your bid
  • “Unlicensed and Specials Medicines” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, not a single contract.

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Past planning notice
Procurement threshold
Below threshold
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Framework agreement
Who may use this agreement
Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
5 Jun 2025, 14:38 BST
Last source update
5 Jun 2025, 14:38 BST
Authority reference
5858158
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-030294
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Pharmaceutical productsPharmacy services
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0543bd Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Appointment period ends
—

Timeline

5 Jun 2025 → 1 May 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published
    5 Jun 2025, 14:38 BST
  2. Market engagement
    27 Jun 2025, 23:59 BST

    This PME will take place in two phases. Phase 1 will be the completion of a PME Questionnaire that will set out a number of policy areas for consideration and response, including; human rights and net zero.

    Phase 2 will be a brief Teams meeting between interested suppliers and Trust members (note each supplier will be allocated a time likely no more than 30 minutes). The focus of the Teams meeting will be to understand current capacity, geographical presence, and business continuity measures. These meetings are expected to take place on the 30th June 2025 via Microsoft Teams. Slots will be confirmed via the messaging portal on e-Tenders.

    If you would like to participate in the Preliminary Market Engagement you can do so via eTendersNI, CfT ref 5986529, where you can obtain a copy of the questionnaire and the messaging system will support any expressions of interest in relation to the Phase 2 meetings.

    Please note this is not a call for tender. This engagement is for information gathering only. Participation in this engagement will not impact your ability to submit a tender when the tender opportunity is published.

  3. Contract starts180 days ago
    1 May 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    5 Jun 2025, 14:38 BST
    UK2

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Pipeline notice
Awards (0)
No award published
Contracts (0)
No contract published
Bid statistics
No aggregate bid statistics published

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

Regional Business Services Organisation Procurement and Logistics Service

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central governmentNorthern Irish devolved regulations apply GB-PPON: PWNJ-1991-NGDW 77 Boucher Crescent, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT12 6HUContact email

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure