This paper provides an update on the roll-out across the NHS of Atamis, a single eCommercial system for procurement. This system allows onboarded organisations to manage their planned procurement activity, tender activity, contracts, suppliers and related procurement value and savings in one location. Atamis is centrally contracted by DHSC, centrally funded by the Crown Commercial Service for 3 years and supplemented with targeted funding by participating authorities. NHS England and DHSC centrally fund a small onboarding team to drive adoption of the system by NHS Trusts, Foundation Trusts and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and develop targeted functionality, such as the Evergreen Sustainable Supplier Assessment.
Great success has been achieved in getting a critical mass of organisations onboarded to Atamis. As of 22 August 2023, 72% (in scope health organisations) have onboarded to Atamis, meaning NHS England has met the overall programme target (of 70% onboarded by 31 March 2024) early. This includes the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England, wider Arm’s Length Bodies, NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts and ICBs. At the same date, focussing only on NHS Trusts, Foundation Trusts and ICBs, 73% have onboarded to at least one of the Atamis modules (as of 18 July 2023 Organisational Data Service data cut). The platform currently holds a pipeline worth £42bn and active contracts with a combined value of £121bn with 11,000 suppliers.
Atamis enables the NHS to consolidate our procurement landscape and use commercial data more effectively. This makes it easier for procurement and commercial teams to make informed decisions that ensure the best value for money for the taxpayer. In addition to enabling the NHS to identify and deliver savings, Atamis builds build public trust through greater transparency, and makes it easier for our suppliers to work with the NHS.
Whilst a critical mass has been achieved in onboarding organisations, with significant savings delivered, more work is required to assure high data completion and quality to drive further analytics to inform the commercial process. Longer term central funding will need to be established, beyond the initial 3-year term, to ensure continuity of service and the ability to use this commercial dataset in the future.
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Date: 9 October