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Commissioning briefs

Commissioning briefs can be thought of as "due diligence” for commissioners who are deciding whether to invest in or disinvest from particular services, drugs, diagnostics and devices.  They address all the issues – cover all the bases – required for commissioning in a rational, transparent and evidence-based way.  Commissioning briefs are independent yet robust, allowing commissioners and clinicians to more quickly decide a course of action, set policy and make commissioning and other allocation decisions.


Commissioning briefs contain:

  • Plain language executive summary and conclusions
  • Description of the service or technology, its alternatives, and its role in the clinical pathway
  • Effectiveness and safety analyses of the service or technology, compared with alternatives
  • Cost-effectiveness information
  • Critique of key claims cited by proponents and opponents
  • Summary of relevant clinical guidelines, including NICE, SIGN and Royal Colleges
  • Judgements including a policy recommendation if required


Commissioning briefs are used for:

  • Speeding up negotiations between commissioners, clinicians and other stakeholders
  • Developing policy and making allocation decisions, including exceptional funding policy
  • Understanding and implementing NICE technology appraisals
  • Examining drugs, devices, interventional procedures, diagnostics, service packages and clinical policies
  • Stress testing business cases for new drugs, devices, procedures and diagnostics
  • Forecasting the impact of emerging technologies
  • Assisting with specialist commissioning of high cost, low volume technologies and services
  • Resolving difficult or controversial policy debates