RM6397 Lot 8 of 12
RM6397 Lot 8: Scientific, Technical and Clinical Coding Supply
Clinical coders, laboratory and scientific staff, and technical specialists supporting NHS clinical and data functions. 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 8 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
- Clinical coders and coding auditors, biomedical scientists and laboratory staff, medical physicists and clinical engineers, health informatics and data quality specialists, and decontamination and technical services staff.
Who should bid this lot
Clinical coding agencies, laboratory and pathology staffing providers, medical physics and engineering suppliers, and health informatics specialists.
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 8
Clinical coding accreditation and audit standards, HCPC registration for the applicable scientific roles, and IBMS registration for laboratory staff. Clinical coding carries a direct financial consequence for trusts through the tariff, so accuracy evidence is scored in a way it is not for other technical roles.
What actually scores
For coding specifically, audited accuracy rates and the effect of your coders on a trust's data quality or income are the strongest evidence available, and almost no bidder presents them. For laboratory and scientific supply, evidence UKAS-accredited environment experience and the specialties you can genuinely cover.
The mistake that loses marks on this lot
Treating clinical coding as administrative supply. It is a technical, audited discipline with measurable financial impact, and a submission that describes coders as data entry staff will score badly against one that presents audited accuracy figures and named coding audit outcomes.
Lot 8 questions
Why is clinical coding on a staffing framework rather than a service framework?
Trusts buy coding both ways. Managed coding services are bought as an outsourced service, while coder supply into a trust's own coding department is a staffing purchase and sits here. If you offer both, be clear in your submission which you are bidding, because conflating them makes the offer harder for an evaluator to score.
What accuracy evidence do coding buyers expect?
Audited accuracy against national clinical coding audit standards, ideally with the trust-side audit outcome rather than your own internal figure. Where you can show a measurable improvement in a trust's data quality or coded income following your supply, that is the most persuasive evidence available in this lot and it is very rarely presented.
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 8? 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 8: Scientific, Technical and Clinical Coding Supply
Which lots are you bidding, and what does your scientific, technical and clinical coding supply evidence look like today?