Official UK procurement notice
BHR/Transformation of Pathology Services
Authority: Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Barking Havering and Redbridge University Trust (BHRUT) is looking to establish a strategic partnership to drive transformation of its pathology services. It is exploring procurement solutions for merging in-house and outsourced services to deliver pathology as part of a managed pathology network. The aim of the transformation is to improve operational delivery, efficiency and resilience, supporting the best possible patient care.
BHRUT is conducting a Preliminary Market Engagement Exercise (PME) to gauge interest in any future procurement of pathology services and obtain feedback from the market to help shape the service specification, investment case, procurement route and commercial structures.
Background: With a dedicated workforce of more than 9,500 staff and volunteers and an income of £1.007bn, BHRUT is a large district general hospital providing all the major clinical specialties from two main hospital sites: King George Hospital (KGH) in Goodmayes and Queen’s Hospital (QH) in Romford and community services to a population of around 800,000. BHRUT delivers a comprehensive pathology service including blood sciences, microbiology and cellular pathology. It currently operates as a stand-alone service and is not part of a formal pathology network.
The trust requires a future operating model for pathology that reflects the following principles:
A high quality, safe and effective pathology service that is resilient and future-proofed for activity growth.
Delivery of a sustainable future pathology workforce by delivering operational excellence, a robust training and development pipeline and creating the conditions for a positive workplace culture.
Enablement of a strong digital infrastructure and capability. Adopting digital opportunity and technology advances to deliver more efficient and scalable pathology services.
Drives high efficiency and productivity through economies of scale and standardisation.
Alignment with the trust’s strategic aims and corporate objectives.
Commitment to working as part of NEL ICS to address health inequalities at national and system levels.
A service that creates social value through its activities in terms of the wellbeing of individuals and communities, social capital created and the environment.
All further and relevant details are available from the Preliminary Market Engagement documentation.
The approach to any future procurement and commercial model has yet to be established. The preliminary market engagement exercise aims to obtain information that will help shape the future operating model, which may or may not be via a procurement process.
A virtual engagement session will be held on Friday 29th May 2026 at 10.00am The purpose of this session is to present BHRUT’s objectives and requirements and gather feedback from suppliers ahead of a future procurement. A suite of market engagement documents is available on Atamis. The PME exercise will conclude on 12th June 2026 at 17:00
All interested parties should email [email protected] to express their interest or for any initial points of clarification.
Additional information.
The trust is issuing this Notice to undertake Preliminary Market Engagement. The primary aim of which is an information gathering exercise to inform its approach to transforming pathology services as part of a managed pathology network. The trust is utilising the Atamis procurement tendering portal for interested parties to express their interest.
It is important to note that this Notice is not a call for competition and as such potential providers will need to express interest in any future tender opportunity once and only if a contract notice is published on the Find Tender Service (FTS) and on Contracts Finder portals
CPV: Pathology services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust buys Hospital and related services (CPV 8511), and who usually turns up
Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust’s own published record, next to the published market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are kept out: they attract a different number of bids. Whole-market view: Hospital and related services (CPV 8511) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
How often small and medium firms win.
Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.
The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Here, local means registered in Greater London (authority’s region).
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners are registered in Greater London.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the deadline to the first award notice, on competitions that published both dates.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards were announced within 78 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.
How many bids did past lots attract?
i
How many bids past lots received.
Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.
Past bids do not predict this tender.
1 bid33%
2–350%
4–60%
7+17%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate18%
Within ±2%50%
Above estimate32%
Assess each lot i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1CPV 8511Estimate not published
i
How many bids this lot may attract.
The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.
Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 478 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid24%
2–332%
4–626%
7+17%
i
Where the award price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
No comparable awards for this lot yet.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
| Supplier | This buyer’s earlier contract | Lot | Award value | Why listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sysmex UK LtdEarlier contract | Managed Service solution for Pathology Blood Sciencesnotice published Dec 2024 | — | £30m | Matched as the earlier contract |
Who could compete for this lot? i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
About this data
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
- Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
- Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
- Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 22 May 2026, 12:02 BST
- Last source update
- 22 May 2026, 17:43 BST
- Authority reference
C448895- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-048284- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06a0e0Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
22 May 2026 → 3 Apr 2028 · 4 dates- Planning notice published151 days ago22 May 2026, 12:02 BST
- Market engagement129 days ago12 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
Preliminary Market Engagement
- Today20 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 14 days2 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract starts3 Apr 2028, 00:00 BST
Notice history
2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 22 May 2026- Preliminary market engagement notice published22 May 2026, 12:02 BSTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published22 May 2026, 17:43 BSTUK2
Published amendments (1)
Modifying title, description and adding a virtual engagement session.
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender