The Provider Selection Regime (PSR) establishes specific processes for selecting providers of health care services in England, emphasizing flexibility, integration, and transparency.
Notices Associated with PSR use the old Find a Tender notices developed for PCR (numbers beginning with F) - and the NHS provides toolkits and guidance telling users which notices to use for each purpose.
The regulations require that, when arranging healthcare services, relevant authorities adhere to the procurement principles and identify which 1 of 5 selection processes to follow*:
- direct award processes A – must be used where there is an existing provider for the service and that provider is the only one capable of providing the service
- direct award process B – must be used where there is unrestricted patient choice of provider for a service
- direct award process C – can be used where an existing provider is satisfying its contract and the new contract will not be materially different from the current contract
- most suitable provider process – can be used where the relevant authority cannot or does not wish to use direct award process C but is of the view that it can identify the most suitable provider
- competitive process – can be used where the relevant authority cannot or does not wish to use direct award process C or the most suitable provider process
*This has been taken from official guidance found here.
The table below flags the different selection processes to follow and which notices need to be published for each on FTS. See here for guidance on creating/managing FTS notices.
NHS England has created official guidance on what should go in each field for the different selection processes and notices, please refer to the spreadsheet that can be found here.
| Making intentions clear in advance | Communication of the decision | Confirmation of the decision | |||
| Stage of Requirement on Panacea | RESEARCH | TENDER | AWARD | AWARD | AWARD/ LIVE |
| FTS Notice | F01 - Prior Information Notice (PIN) | F02 - Contract Notice | F03 - Contract Award Notice (Intention to Award) | F03 - Contract Award Notice (Confirmation) | F14 - Corrigendum Notice to Contract Award Notice (Intention to Award)** |
| Notice option on Panacea (under Find a Tender) | Prior Information Notice | Opportunity | Award | Award | Click Correction against the Award Notice |
| Direct Award Process A & B | YES | ||||
| Direct Award Process C | YES | YES (this is for Contract Award Notice)** | |||
| Most Suitable Provider | YES | YES | YES (this is for Contract Award Notice)** | ||
| Competitive Process | Optional | YES | YES | YES (this is for Contract Award Notice)** | |
| Establishing a Framework Agreement | Optional | YES | YES | YES (this is for Contract Award Notice)** | |
| Calling off a contract (from a framework agreement) with competition | YES | YES (this is for Contract Award Notice)** | |||
| Calling off a contract (from a framework agreement) without competition | YES | ||||
| Urgent Award | YES | ||||
** F14 - Corrigendum Notice - open your existing F03 Notice, and click Correction. This will allow you to create the F14 Corrigendum Notice. See here for more information.
More information on the PSR23 can be found below:
- https://www.nhsconfed.org/publications/nhs-provider-selection-regime
- https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/how-commissioning-is-changing/nhs-provider-selection-regime/provider-selection-regime-frequently-asked-questions/
- https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/the-provider-selection-regime-statutory-guidance/
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