Awarded without open competition
Awarded without open competition. The buyer went directly to one or a few suppliers instead of advertising the contract. Procurement rules allow this only in specific cases, such as extreme urgency, when only one supplier can do the work, or for call-offs from an existing framework.
Key facts
- Buyer
- Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust · Body governed by public law
- Supplier
- Priory Healthcare
- Value
- £733,408
- Procedure
- Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
- Sector
- Health & social care · Psychiatric hospital services (CPV 85111500)
- Region
- South East
- Official notice
- 031863-2026 on Find a Tender
- Timeline
-
- Contract date9 Mar 2026
- Published8 Apr 2026Published 30 days after the contract date
Description
The Trust determined that the award met the urgent circumstances provision under Regulation 14 of the Provider Selection Regime. At the time of the decision, system‑wide inpatient mental health capacity was under acute and unprecedented pressure, exacerbated by a high number of delayed discharges outside the Trust's control. This resulted in a material and immediate shortfall in available inpatient beds. The scale and timing of this demand escalation was not reasonably foreseeable and was not attributable to the Trust's actions or decision‑making. Delaying the award in order to undertake a standard PSR process would have been likely to pose a significant risk to patient safety, including the inability to admit patients in acute mental health crisis. The urgent award was therefore necessary to secure short‑term additional capacity and mitigate immediate safety risks. The Trust has approximately 65 CRFD patients who are delayed discharges and occupying beds that the Trust cannot use as …
About the supplier
Priory Healthcare: every public contract they have won, plus their Companies House record (company 06244860).