After initially engaging with suppliers two years ago to help shape technical specifications, the health service’s blood and transport agency now expects to begin the buying process in five months

The NHS is pushing on with a £30m-plus investment in new digital systems to help transform the health service’s engagement with blood and organ donors.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) has published a commercial notice informing prospective providers that it is “progressing with the Donor and Session Platform (DASP) programme”.

The development of DASP was first trailed in summer 2023, when NHSBT launched a process of engaging with suppliers “to help inform our strategy… [and] improve our knowledge of all current and future systems available in the marketplace”. The procedure was also intended to support the NHS body in the “identification of opportunities and [to] gauge market interest in this field”.

Almost two years on from this engagement, NHSBT has indicated that, in October, it plans to undertake a formal procurement to appoint a supplier to an initial five-year contract, beginning in March 2026. This deal – which is valued at £36m – can be extended for two further years, taking its ultimate end date to 2033.

During this time, the provider will help NHSBT in delivering “a transformative digital programme that aims to modernise donor engagement and session delivery”, the notice says.

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Ahead of issuing a tender later this year, between now and August, the Blood and Transplant agency will work with techUK to run another “series of market-engagement events” to further inform the digital project.

NHSBT operational documents published earlier this year indicated that a programme director to oversee delivery of DASP was appointed in February. In the longer-term, the new digital system is one of various “transformation programmes that will deliver improvements to collection productivity in the medium-term… [that] are beginning to mobilise”.

The NHS entity is responsible for overseeing the supply of blood, organs, tissues, and stem cells throughout the health service – including managing donations. It operates as a “special health authority”, under the sponsorship of the Department of Health and Social Care.

NHSBT supported 4,651 transplants in the 2023-24 year, and there are currently more than 8,000 people on the waiting list for an organ. About 4,300 blood donations per day are needed to support the operation of the NHS, according to the health service.