Information Update on CCIAF Changes; Guidance for NHS Organisations

As you will be aware, the NHS and Government Commercial Function (GCF) aligned its best practice standards back in 2021 and the NHS adopted the GCF accreditation process in 2022. The current process brings together procurement functions across all public sector organisations as cohorts to undertake the accreditation over an eight-week period. There have been two cohorts each year, one in April and one in October.

Moving forward, it has been agreed that CCIAF will only operate one cohort per year which will run in November.

To facilitate the transition to this change, NHS organisations will be granted access to the online assessment portal prior to the cohort commencement. One of the benefits to organisations in having this new approach is to provide more time for the NHS to gather evidence and compile their responses in preparation of the cohort, reducing the resource demands over the set 8-week period. It will also enable larger cohorts with more opportunities to network and share best practice with non-NHS organisations.

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