Selling innovation to the public sector: Contracts for Innovation, SBRI Healthcare and the NHS

The public sector will pay the full cost of developing something it needs, through a contract rather than a grant. This guide covers how Contracts for Innovation and SBRI Healthcare work and are scored, what the NHS must see before it can buy from you, and where in the North West to start.

The reality

Grant, contract or tender: know which table you are at

Decision rule: if a public body has already written your problem down as its challenge, a contract beats a grant on cash and on evidence. If only you think it is a problem, it is a grant or an investor conversation. See Winning Innovate UK grants and Know your market.

Contracts for Innovation: rules, phases and scoring

Phases, and what the data says about each

A challenge owner (department, agency, council or NHS body) states a need and pays for it to be met. Competitions "can be run in as many phases as required", each phase "must involve at least two funded suppliers and fund at least 50% R&D activity", and "There is no minimum or maximum size of contract award". Any size of organisation, UK or overseas, can bid if most of the work and spend is in the UK.¹³ Over 100 public bodies have put more than £1.5 billion through the route.¹

Phase 1 must put at least 50% of contract value into R&D services, and contracts open in October 2026 ran £20,000 to £500,000; the 2008 to 2020 record for later phases comes from the 2022 evaluation, which put benefits to firms at "around 1.5 to 4 times the costs".⁵⁷³²⁴⁹

The three competitions open at 18 October 2026

These close in late October and early November 2026; after that, read the table as a guide to typical sizes and timings. Live competitions are on Bearings at explore.html?q=contracts+for+innovation.

How it is scored

Gates first: eligibility, scope ("the Innovation Lead's scope decision is final") and, for the play competition, a theory of change: "applications submitted without a clear theory of change will be unable to proceed to assessment".⁶⁵⁷ Then three independent assessors (five for the battery round) mark questions 7 to 13. The average must clear a threshold, a portfolio approach can pass over a higher scorer, and there is no appeal.³⁴⁶ Download the competition's assessor guidance from its IFS page before you draft.

Question 7 structure (one paragraph each)
1. The challenge, quoted from the brief, and the outcome measure it names
2. Where the challenge owner is today (its numbers, its current workaround)
3. What this phase will demonstrate, by when, measured how
4. Why that evidence lets them run Phase 2 or buy
5. What they get to keep: deliverables, data, usage rights to foreground IP

Payment is monthly in arrears on invoice, so you carry the spend first. Set the rate to 100, claims to monthly, and the payment lag to your own estimate:

SBRI Healthcare: the NHS's own contract route

What it is, and what was open at 18 October 2026

SBRI Healthcare is "funded by NHS England in partnership with the Health Innovation Network", run by LGC since 1 April 2019; "Competitions are clinically themed based on NHS unmet need".¹²¹³ Since 2013 it reports £182m+ awarded, 379 products, 176 sold into the NHS and £1.26bn of private investment raised.¹⁴

Open Call 4's dates come from its competition page (which calls them tentative) and Invitation to Tender:¹⁶¹⁷

The rules mirror Contracts for Innovation: individual legal entities, IP "retained by the applicant", overheads "usually up to 15-20% of the total costs", and you invoice net plus 20% VAT.¹⁵ Outside cancer, look at Contracts for Innovation, the NHS Innovation Service and the Health Innovation Network accelerators below, and set an alert for a Competition 28.

How Open Call 4 is judged, and what to write

A panel "with complementary clinical, implementation and commercial expertise" scores against weighted criteria.¹⁷

Shortlisted applicants get external peer and public reviews, see "the anonymised reviewers' comments", then present for 10 to 15 minutes to a panel that includes "patient/public representatives". Answer every comment.¹⁷¹⁵

An audit in the 2025-26 annual review found the process "perceived to be complex and challenging, in particular by neurodivergent entrepreneurs and first-time applicants".¹⁹ Use the launch events, drop-in clinics and the NICE META Tool ("a rapid, high level, payer-perspective assessment").²³

Selling to the NHS: two rulebooks and the gates before any order

Which rules apply

The Act's mechanics are in How public procurement works now; buyer-by-buyer rules are in Who buys.

The Provider Selection Regime

Five key criteria decide awards: quality and innovation; value; integration, collaboration and service sustainability; improving access, reducing health inequalities and facilitating choice; and social value, weighted at least 10% in NHS-led processes.²⁵²⁴

Challenges go to the authority, then to the Independent Patient Choice and Procurement Panel, which advises only; "there is no fee for requesting a panel review".²⁵ Save a Find a Tender search for PSR intention notices in your service area this week: under the most suitable provider route the 14-day window is the only door.

The gates: what "NHS-ready" means

NHS England's Net Zero Supplier Roadmap tightens each year, so a Carbon Reduction Plan written now is the floor, not the finish:⁵⁸

Work up the gates in this order; each is cheaper done before a buyer asks (an order drawn from the gates above, not an official sequence).³⁵²⁸³¹

NICE and the MedTech Funding Mandate

NICE's own pages could not be checked for this guide, so its current programmes are not described here. The MedTech Funding Mandate (from 1 April 2021) needs positive NICE Medical Technology or Diagnostic Guidance, savings within three years and a national budget impact of no more than £20m a year; for 2026/27 "the Policy will remain live, however, no new products will be added".³⁰ So no national mandate will carry a new product into trusts this year. A NICE Early Value Assessment still counts with investors: Manchester spin-out CareLoop raised £1.8m in January 2025 citing one.⁵⁶

Where orders come from

The North West route in

Events below were listed at 18 October 2026. Once dated ones pass, use them as a guide to the yearly calendar and check the organiser's page.

Beyond the NHS, and turning a pilot into evidence

Challenge owners in 2025-26 ranged from the Ministry of Justice and DfE to rail, clean air, cyber, connectivity, batteries and the Dementia Mission.³²⁴⁵⁵ Connected Places Catapult runs open calls for transport, local-government and HMGCC buyers.⁵⁴ None of this guide's sources shows a North West council's own innovation challenge; watch The Chest and coming-soon.html.

A funded pilot is the strongest route-to-market evidence a grant assessor accepts. Innovate UK's top band reads: "Target customers are identified along with the value proposition to them. The routes to market and how profit, productivity and growth will increase is identified and evidenced."⁷ Its guide warns that "Many projects fall down on the route to market aspect".⁸

Pilot evidence sheet (agree before the pilot starts)
Site and segment:      [trust / department / council service]
Baseline:              [the customer's cost, time or outcome today, with source]
Success threshold:     [the number that counts as a pass]
Who pays what:         [even a token fee moves this from "say" to "do"]
Next step if passed:   [purchase order, framework call-off, PSR route, Phase 2]

Checklist: NHS-ready

• The challenge brief's own wording opens question 7 (Contracts for Innovation) or the challenge-fit answer (SBRI Healthcare)
• Budget at cost, no profit, no negotiated terms; VAT inclusive for CfI, net plus 20% for SBRI Healthcare
• Cash to carry at least one month of spend before the first payment
• A theory of change or logic model on one page
• Named clinical champion and implementation lead at each site, accepted as portal participants
• Independent evaluator named; metrics mapped to data sources; at least six months' set-up shown
• Unmet need quantified from the site's own data (volumes, delay, cost)
• IP position stated, with the usage rights or licence the funder gets
• DTAC pack on the February 2026 form: clinical safety officer, DCB0129/0160, DSPT, security, interoperability, accessibility
• Device or IVD: MHRA registration and UKCA or CE status, with the 2028 or 2030 UKCA date if transitioning
• UKAS-accredited ISO 9001 or 13485 certificate, or the certification body's letter, before a Supply Chain tender
• Carbon Reduction Plan, Evergreen assessment and two social value commitments you can report (see Social value that scores)
• Registered: NHS Innovation Service, your Health Innovation Network, Atamis for each target trust, Find a Tender with a PSR intention-notice search
• Procurement route after the pilot or contract named in writing
• Pilot evidence sheet agreed before the pilot starts

Questions

Is Contracts for Innovation a grant?

No. It is "a procurement of R&D services": 100% of eligible costs usually covered, no profit, prices inclusive of VAT, paid monthly in arrears, and "never considered a subsidy", so there is no match funding.²⁵⁷³¹

Do I need match funding for SBRI Healthcare?

Not for the Real-World Implementation and Evaluation Fund: "No match funding is required". Budgets exclude VAT and you invoice net plus 20% VAT.¹⁵

Who owns the IP from an SBRI or Contracts for Innovation project?

You do. In Contracts for Innovation the challenge owner keeps free usage rights to the foreground IP; at SBRI Healthcare "Intellectual property rights are retained by the applicant", with royalty-free non-exclusive licences to the funder.¹¹⁵

What are my chances of reaching Phase 2?

The only published figure is from the 2008 to 2020 evaluation: 25% of Phase 1 firms were shortlisted for Phase 2, average award £492k. No current competition publishes a success rate.⁹

Is SBRI Healthcare open now?

At 18 October 2026 the only live call was the NHS Cancer Programme Innovation Open Call 4 (14 October to 1 December 2026, up to £3m a project excluding VAT). No themed competition had run since Competition 27 in September 2024.¹⁶²²

What is DTAC and do I need it?

DTAC is NHS England's assessment framework for software-based digital health technology. Buyers apply it to purchases and trials, on a new form from February 2026 (the old form should not be used from 6 April 2026). It sits alongside device certification, ICO registration and the Data Security and Protection Toolkit.²⁸²⁹

Does selling a service to an NHS trust go through the Procurement Act?

Not if it is a healthcare service: those fall under the Provider Selection Regime from 1 January 2024, with no minimum value. Goods and non-clinical services fall under the Procurement Act 2023 from 24 February 2025.²⁴²⁵

How do I find NHS pre-market engagement?

Watch Find a Tender for preliminary market engagement notices and PSR intention notices, use the Atamis "View our Live Opportunities" search, and follow NHS Supply Chain's Procurement Calendar and monthly innovation webinars.^27253732

Written for businesses, founders and researchers in the North West of England and checked against the sources listed above on 18 October 2026. Funders change their rules, so always read the current call before you apply. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.