Find a TenderPast planning noticePreliminary market engagement notice
Published 9 Oct 2025, 16:35 BST

Official UK procurement notice

BLC0300 - Merseyside Police - Forensic Toxicology Laboratory Services - Market Engagement Notice

Official notice

Authority: Police & Crime Commissioner for Merseyside & Chief Constable for Merseyside (Police & fire)·On behalf of: BLUELIGHT COMMERCIAL LIMITED

ServicesSME suitableVCSE suitable
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 1 yrends 31 Dec 2026 · starts 1 Jan 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Merseyside Police, on behalf of the Northwest Regional Toxicology Facility (NW RTF) collaboration (Merseyside, Cheshire, North Wales, Cumbria & Lancashire) are exploring options for the future operation of its forensic toxicology laboratory.

The current laboratory does not currently hold appropriate UKAS accreditation but does have qualified and experienced staff in post. The lab will provide evidential analysis and reporting under the Road Toxicology Act Section 5a.

This preliminary market engagement aims to understand interest, capability and explore potential delivery models, including purchase of the facility to support the transition, accreditation and ongoing operation of the laboratory.

Merseyside Police, on behalf of the NW RTF collaboration invites interested parties to this event and are particularly interested in exploring the following areas:

 Relevant experience in achieving and maintaining accreditation

 Proposed delivery models and approach to transition

 Indicative timelines and key milestones

 Governance and risk management approach

 Resource plan

 Commercial structures and models

 Demand and cost analysis

This engagement process does not constitute a call for competition or a commitment to proceed with procurement and is being used solely to explore potential delivery models and inform procurement strategy.

Please ignore the contract start and end dates. These are mandatory fields but are not applicable at this stage.

CPV: Investigation and security services · Laboratory services · Police services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 1 yrSMEVCSE
Contract period: 1 Jan 2026 – 31 Dec 2026 (1 yr)
Delivery: LondonEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Past planning notice
Procurement threshold
Unspecified in notice
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
9 Oct 2025, 16:35 BST
Last source update
9 Oct 2025, 16:35 BST
Authority reference
BLC0300
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-063891
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Investigation and security servicesLaboratory servicesPolice services
Delivery area
London (UKI32)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05ac0c Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

9 Oct 2025 → 1 Jan 2026 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published384 days ago
    9 Oct 2025, 16:35 BST
  2. Market engagement377 days ago
    16 Oct 2025, 23:59 BST

    Engagement meetings will be held with each supplier individually who wishes to discuss this in more detail. The meetings will take place via teams on Thursday 16th October.

    Please visit sell2.in-tend.co.uk/blpd/home ↗ to register on the BlueLight Commercial e-tendering platform.

    Once registered, please navigate to Portals in the top right of the screen and log in to BlueLight Commercial Portal. Then search for BLC0300.

    If you would like to attend a meeting please send a message via the correspondence option on In-Tend by close of play Tuesday 14th October.

  3. Contract starts301 days ago
    1 Jan 2026

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    9 Oct 2025, 16:35 BST
    UK2

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

2 public bodies on the notice

Police & Crime Commissioner for Merseyside and Chief Constable for Merseyside

Contracting authorityPublic authority - sub-central government GB-PPON: PBLY-7223-BPGL Merseyside Police Headquarters, Liverpool, North West, L3 3ANContact email

Other public bodies

  • Bluelight Commercial LimitedProcess contact pointProcuring entityOrganising the market engagement on behalf of Merseyside Police.GB-COH: 12517649 London, LondonContact name, email, phone

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure