The NHS SBS construction framework procurement timetable has shifted materially, with NHS Shared Business Services confirming the invitation to tender for its £750m Public Sector Construction Works 2 (PSCW2) framework will not be released until mid- to late November 2026, a delay of approximately two months from the original September target.
The framework, valued at an estimated £750m excluding VAT (£900m including VAT), is structured across three lots: minor works up to £5m; intermediate works from £5m to £15m; and major works of £15m or more. All three lots cover construction, refurbishment and demolition activity across the public sector. According to New Civil Engineer, the programme extends beyond England, with eligible projects spanning the UK, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man, giving the framework a notably broad geographic reach for contractors assessing whether to commit bid resource.
Revised timetable for the NHS SBS construction framework
Under the original schedule, the tender notice had been due on 7 September 2026, with a submission deadline of 19 October 2026 and contracts commencing 10 September 2027. The revised programme moves each milestone back by several weeks. The tender notice is now expected in mid- to late November 2026, with an eight-week bidding window closing on 8 January 2027. The award decision has shifted from 22 July 2027 to 20 October 2027, and the contract start date has moved from 10 September 2027 to 8 December 2027, with the framework running through to 7 December 2031.
NHS SBS has stated the additional time was built in because the tender will now be issued before the holiday period, making an extended bidding window necessary to give the supply chain adequate time to respond. The enquiry deadline has also moved, from 28 September 2026 to 4 December 2026.
What potential bidders should do now
NHS SBS is directing interested parties to register for alerts via the Find a Tender service, and has confirmed the release of the tender notice will be the next formal communication from the authority. No further interim updates are planned before that point.
For contractors and consultants who did not attend the pre-procurement bidder webinar held in June, the recording, presentation slides and question-and-answer responses remain available. Those materials cover the framework structure, lot boundaries and likely evaluation methodology, and represent the most complete public briefing on PSCW2 ahead of the tender notice.
For practices and contractors already working on public sector health infrastructure, the delay reshapes near-term bid planning. The December 2027 contract start means work flowing through PSCW2 will not begin on site for well over a year. Firms considering whether to pursue a place on the framework will need to weigh that against the scale of the opportunity: a four-year framework running to December 2031, covering minor refurbishments through to major capital works of £15m or more, across jurisdictions from the Isle of Man to mainland Britain. The three-lot structure also means contractors without the capacity for large-scale works can still pursue a position in the minor or intermediate tiers without competing directly against larger contractors in the major works lot.
The embodied carbon implications of a framework of this size are not trivial: refurbishment and demolition scopes in lots one and two, in particular, carry real potential to reduce whole-life carbon against a new-build comparator, provided procurement and specification choices are made early enough in project development. Whether PSCW2 evaluation criteria will include carbon performance metrics has not been stated in any published materials to date.
With the tender notice now anchored to mid- to late November 2026, the practical preparation window for potential bidders is the period between now and that release date.
