NHS SBS Public Sector Construction Works 2
Lot 1: Minor Works up to £5m
Lot 1 covers minor works up to £5 million and is let regionally across twelve geographical areas, with a supplier panel appointed per area rather than a single national list. For a regional contractor this is the most winnable lot on the framework, and it is also the one where the widened band changes who you are competing against.
The facts that decide it
- Value band: projects up to £5 million
- Let regionally across twelve geographical areas, panel appointed per area
- On the outgoing framework the equivalent lot was capped at ten contractors per region
- Evaluated 60% quality, 30% commercial, 10% social value and sustainability
The outgoing PS-Works framework split this range across two lots: £0m to £2.5m and £2.5m to £5m, each with its own regional panel. PS-Works 2 consolidates them into a single band up to £5 million. That sounds administrative and is not. A contractor who held a place on the £0m to £2.5m lot will now be evaluated in the same pool as firms delivering £4m and £5m schemes, against the same quality questions, in a field that has just got deeper.
The practical consequence is that project references carry more weight than they did. If your delivered values cluster at the bottom of the band, the response has to work harder to show that your systems, supervision and commercial control scale across it, because the evaluator is reading you next to someone whose references sit at the top.
The counterweight is geography. You are not competing nationally. You are competing for a place in your own area, usually against a field you already know from NHS trust, local authority and blue light work. That makes an honest regional decision more valuable than an ambitious one.
What scores
Completed NHS or healthcare schemes with values, dates, client names and contactable referees; live-environment working on an occupied clinical site, including infection control, noise and dust management, out of hours phasing and ward liaison; HTM compliance where the works touch it; and a clear account of supervision ratios on concurrent small schemes, because Lot 1 is bought in volume rather than one at a time.
The mistake that costs places
Bidding every region you would like to work in rather than every region you can evidence. Panels are appointed per area and evaluators can see where your delivered projects actually are. A thin geographic claim reads as capacity you do not have, and it costs marks on the region you would otherwise have won.
Common questions
We hold a place on the current PS-Works framework. Do we have to rebid?
Yes. A framework place does not carry over into its successor. PS-Works 2 is a fresh competition and the current framework runs until September 2027, so incumbency gives you evidence and relationships but no entitlement. Incumbents who assume otherwise are the ones who start late.
How many contractors get appointed per region?
On the outgoing framework the cap was ten per region per lot. The number for PS-Works 2 will be fixed by the tender notice. Plan on it being a small enough panel that a mid-scoring bid does not get a place, because on a regional lot that is how it usually works.
Should we bid Lot 1 or Lot 2?
Bid where your delivered project values genuinely sit, and bid both only if your references support both. The £5 million boundary is the test. If most of your completed work sits below it, Lot 1 is your lot, and a Lot 2 bid built on one atypical project tends to score poorly in the delivery questions without improving your Lot 1 position.
On regions: Lots 1 and 2 are let regionally across twelve geographical areas, with a supplier panel appointed per area. NHS SBS publishes the per-region supplier lists on its Customer Framework Agreement Portal rather than on the open web, and the definitive area list for PS-Works 2 will be fixed by the tender notice. On the current framework the cap is ten contractors per region per lot, which is the number that should drive your bid or no bid decision.
Reviewed 22 August 2026. The tender notice had not published when this was written, so dates described as expected are exactly that. The published notice on Find a Tender and the Ariba pack are the only authority. Nothing here is legal advice.
The rest of this framework
Or start with the framework overview, the NHS tender pipeline or an independent bid review.
3 lots and 3 situations covered.
Bidding PS-Works 2?
Tell us which lots and which regions you are considering, and where you are up to. A director replies, and will tell you if we think you should not bid.
PS-Works 2: Lot 1 Minor Works
Which lots and regions, and how far along are you?