Pilot contracts under NHS Estates' new procurement system, Procure 21, are due to go out to tender next week.
In a statement to bidders this week, the property arm of the NHS said that tenders for pilot projects in the north-west of England and the West Midlands would be issued next Tuesday (17 July).
Bidders have eight weeks to work up their bids for the schemes, which will see NHS building work between £1m and £20m carried out by framework contractors.
The Procure 21 announcement came as NHS Estates revealed that it had received 135 expressions of interest from the private sector in its planned public–private partnership.
The PPP, due to be launched next April, will involve the sell-off of £400m worth of surplus property currently owned by NHS Estates. It will be headed by former NHS Estates chief executive Kate Priestley.
The move will lead to NHS Estates being split into two. Its trading activities will be covered by the PPP, and its policy regulatory side will push through Procure 21.
