715104450-Complusory Drug Testing Quality Assurance

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

REFERENCE: 62085507 – The Provision of Quality Assurance to the Armed Forces Compulsory Drug Testing (AFCDT) Programme

CUSTOMER: APSG, D Pers, Ministry of Defence (The Authority)

ESTIMATED START DATE: Contract Start Date 01 April 2026

DATE RESPONSE REQUIRED: 18 July 2025

Dear Potential Provider,

We would like to notify you of a potential upcoming requirement, and by doing so we are keen to understand where the market stands in terms of our requirement below.

The Armed Forces Compulsory Drug Testing (CDT) mission is to minimise substance misuse in the Armed Forces through implementation of the policy of Prevention, Deterrence and Regulation, to reduce the deleterious effects of Substance Misuse (SM) on Operational Effectiveness, without causing excessive wastage.

The current AFCDT is broken up into two contracts, the Urine Analysis (UA) AFCDT Contract and the AFCDT Quality Assurance Contract (QAC). This RFI only covers the AFCDT QAC requirements.

The aim of the QAC is to conduct blind performance testing by providing and inserting quality control samples. This will then assist the Authority when dealing with any legal challenges made against a positive result.

Please note the following general conditions:

a. This RFI will help us to refine the requirement and conduct market research.

b. We reserve the right not to proceed with this procurement. Nothing shall constitute a commitment to instigating a formal procurement process.

c. Any and all costs associated with the production of such a response either to an RFI or any resultant competition must be borne by the Supplier. The Authority will not contribute in any way to meeting production costs of any response.

d. Information contained within this document is confidential and must not be revealed to any third party without prior written consent from us.

e. No down-selection of Potential Providers will take place as a consequence of any responses or interactions relating to this RFI.

f. We expect that all responses to this RFI will be provided by Potential Providers in good faith to the best of their ability in the light of information available at the time of their response.

g. No information provided by a Potential Provider in response to this RFI will be carried forward, used or acknowledged in any way for the purpose of evaluating the Potential Provider, in any subsequent formal procurement process that may take place.

h. Should a Potential Provider fail to respond to this Supplier Questionnaire, it will not affect any further participation in any possible future procurement for this capability.

OUR AIMS – WHAT WE WANT TO ACHIEVE

The Customer is looking for one or more Suppliers to deliver the following aims:

a. Monitor the collection procedures and make recommendations as appropriate.

b. Advising on the AFCDT Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for required updates.

c. Attend days that an AFCDT team collects samples at a frequency agreed between the contractor and the Authority. QA visits to collection sites are normally carried out on a two monthly basis, although the actual rate may vary significantly depending upon specific issues or scientific problems.

d. Review and advise on the training of CDTO, CA and Monitors.

e. Submit a QA Site Inspection Report after conducting a visit to the Urine Analysis Contractors Lab.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

The Customer is looking for Industry feedback on the following areas:

1. There is an appetite for a singular provider to deliver all requirements detailed in the brief as a capability under a single contract, can this be achieved by your organisation?
2. How would the potential provider seek to service the contract, which includes the provision of drug samples, IT infrastructure, communications and overall technical support throughout.
3. Do any potential providers have the current capacity to deliver the capabilities? If a potential provider has a solution or is willing to develop a solution that fulfils the requirement, please provide a summary of the solution.
4. If the potential provider does not have a current solution that meets the requirement in full, what level of investment would the potential provider envisage as a result, or would the potential provider seek to sub-contract capabilities, and how would this sub-contract capability be managed.
5. Are there any major pit falls, issues or risks with the requirement?
6. Where possible, are you able to provide a submission of a rough order of magnitude in regard to how much it would cost to fulfil this requirement in full, for 5 years.
7. Where possible, confirm the lead time to establish a robust logistical plan for the delivery of quality control dug samples and other potential lead times to have a facility that provides the service up and running.
8. If not, UKAS accredited, how long would it take for you to achieve this or similar accreditation required by the UK Government to conduct this requirement.
9. How is your service currently measured by other customers of your services i.e. Key Performance Indicators.
10. Are you able to provide examples of Key Performance Indicators?
11. What are the most applicable social value missions and outcomes that be achieved in fulfilment of the requirement?

(Please see assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67ae1529e270ce… ↗)

13. Are there any outcomes listed within the link above that provide a greater opportunity to provide social or economic benefit through delivery of the requirement? And if so, please provide justification.

POTENTIAL PROVIDER QUESTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

• Potential Providers may raise questions or seek clarification regarding any aspect of this RFI document at any time prior to the Clarification Period Closure. Questions must be submitted through to the multiuser [email protected]
• To ensure that all Potential Providers have equal access to information regarding this Procurement, responses to questions raised by Potential Providers will be published in a questions and answers document, which will be available through the DSP.
• Responses to questions will not identify the originator of the question.
• If a Potential Provider wishes to ask a question or seek clarification without the question and answer being published in this way, then the Potential Provider must notify us and provide its justification for withholding the question and any response. If the Authority does not consider that there is sufficient justification for withholding the question and the corresponding response, the Potential Provider will be invited to decide whether:

o the question/clarification and the response should in fact be published; or

o It wishes to withdraw the question/clarification.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETION AND RETURN

• Answers should be limited to a maximum of one side of A4 per question, using Ariel Font, Size 11.
• Once completed please save as a PDF file and return to: [email protected]
• Completed questionnaires should be returned by no later than 18 July 2025. Along with your completed responses you are invited to provide any marketing material/information that would help the MOD understand more about your organization and the market you operate in. Please note that failure to respond to this Supplier Questionnaire will not affect any further participation in any possible future procurement for this capability.