RM6397 Lot 9 of 12
RM6397 Lot 9: Estates, Facilities Management and Ancillary Staff Supply
Estates, maintenance, facilities, catering, cleaning, portering and security staff for NHS sites. Part of the £2 billion excluding VAT (£2.5 billion including VAT) NHS Workforce Alliance framework, which replaces RM6281 (clinical and healthcare staffing) and RM6277 (non-clinical staffing).
Submissions close 3pm on Monday 21 September 2026 (11 days remaining). Clarification questions close 3pm on 2 September 2026.
Lot 9 at a glance
- Framework
- RM6397 Clinical and Non-Clinical Temporary and Permanent Staff
- Buyer
- Government Commercial Agency, for the NHS Workforce Alliance
- Submissions close
- 3pm on Monday 21 September 2026
- Clarifications close
- 3pm on 2 September 2026
- Framework value
- £2 billion excluding VAT (£2.5 billion including VAT)
- Term
- Four years from February 2027
- Portal
- CCS/GCA Bravo Solution (Jaggaer)
- Supplier numbers on this lot
- Indicated as unlimited
- Staff groups in scope
- Estates maintenance and building services engineers, electricians and mechanical trades, domestic and cleaning staff, catering and hospitality, porters, security officers, and transport and logistics staff.
Who should bid this lot
Facilities and estates staffing providers, industrial and blue-collar recruiters, security staffing suppliers, and agencies supplying catering, domestic and portering staff at volume.
The general rule across RM6397 is to bid the lots you can evidence rather than the lots you would like to hold. Evaluators score depth of evidence per lot, not breadth of ambition, and providers who bid three lots properly consistently outperform those who spread thin across eight.
The compliance discriminator for Lot 9
Trade competency and ticket verification, SIA licensing for security roles, food hygiene certification for catering, and infection control training for staff working in clinical areas. Estates roles on healthcare sites also carry authorised person and competent person requirements for specialist systems such as medical gases, ventilation and water safety.
What actually scores
Volume supply reliability and rapid mobilisation, because this lot is bought for coverage. Evidence how you cover a large-site cleaning or portering contract at short notice, how trade tickets and SIA licences are verified and tracked to expiry, and where you have supplied specialist authorised persons.
The mistake that loses marks on this lot
Underestimating the clinical-environment layer. Supplying a cleaner to an office and to an operating theatre are different propositions, and a submission that does not address infection control, clinical area induction and the specific competency requirements of healthcare estates reads as a generic industrial recruiter.
Lot 9 questions
Do estates staff need healthcare-specific competencies?
Frequently yes, and this is where general industrial recruiters lose marks. Healthcare estates carry authorised and competent person requirements for medical gas, ventilation, water safety and electrical systems, and staff working in clinical areas need infection control awareness and appropriate induction. Evidencing that you understand and verify these separates a healthcare-capable supplier from a general one.
Is this lot mainly about price?
Price matters more here than in the clinical lots because volumes are high and margins are thin, but it is not the whole decision. Trusts have been burned by suppliers who won on rate and could not cover, so demonstrable coverage reliability at the quoted rate is what actually wins. Bidding a rate you cannot staff is the fastest route to a framework place that generates no call-offs.
Lot names, the framework value and the timetable were last reviewed on 21 August 2026. Published summaries of RM6397 differ on the submission date and on the term commencement, so treat the ITT on the CCS/GCA Bravo Solution (Jaggaer) portal as the only authority. See the full RM6397 guide for the detail on those discrepancies.
The other eleven RM6397 lots
Most providers bid more than one. Each lot has its own regulator, evidence expectations and characteristic failure mode.
See also the RM6397 framework guide, the NHS tender pipeline and the NHS Workforce Alliance overview.
Bidding Lot 9? The evidence is the work
Getting fill rates, compliance audit outcomes and named contract references out of your operational systems and written to the published criteria is what decides the score, and it is the part providers start too late. Call 020 3668 5488 or send us the deadline and we will come back with a Teams time.
RM6397 Lot 9: Estates, Facilities Management and Ancillary Staff Supply
Which lots are you bidding, and what does your estates, facilities management and ancillary staff supply evidence look like today?