The Department of Health is the contracting authority for this procurement (the ‘Authority’). The contract that will support this procurement will be signed by the Secretary of State for Health.

Although the Authority is the contracting authority, it is acting on behalf of the Department of Health, 12 NHS Trusts / Foundation Trusts / Ambulance Trusts (the ‘Trusts’). The Trusts will be the service recipients for the purposes of the contract procured.

The Authority is seeking in this procurement to procure an Ambulance Control Room Software Solution and Associated Services (‘CRSS’) to the Trusts. CRSS is part of the Authority's Control Room Solution Programme (‘CRSP’) and the wider Ambulance Radio Programme (‘ARP’).

The Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust (the ‘Welsh Trust’) and the Scottish Ambulance Service Board (the ‘SAS’) may decide not to adopt CRSS.

The CRSS has been procured using the competitive dialogue procedure in accordance with Regulation 30 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (‘PCR’). The competitive dialogue procedure took place in successive stages and the dialogue continued until the Authority could identify a CRSS capable of meeting its needs (Regulations 30(2) and (4) PCR). The Authority did not carry out a dialogue in relation to all aspects of its requirement.