Official UK procurement notice
BWC Karotyping and FISH Service PME
Authority: Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust (Central government)·On behalf of: University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionC&S GMS wish to implement an AI-assisted automated karyotyping solution across all sites, with capability to also deliver automated FISH analysis. The requirements documented are vendor agnostic and have been developed to inform the selection and implementation of a karyotyping / FISH solution.
Requirements
C&S GMS have prepared a supporting document to demonstrate the requirements of the karyotyping solution, but in summary the system must:
- Deliver automated slide scanning, automated cell selection and capture, and AI-assisted digital karyotyping capability across our laboratories,
- Enable integration with existing systems where possible – details of existing systems are in Appendix 1.
- Security and Compliance: Meet all relevant data security and privacy regulations.
- Allow for centralisation of “wet laboratory” work at 2 sites and distribution of images, allowing distributed analysis and reporting at all 3 sites plus remote working from home.
- FISH capability is also required, meeting specified performance expectations for both cell suspensions and FFPE slides including tissue-matching function, and ideally automated scanning.
- Data storage and retention capability
CPV: IT software package
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust buys Communication software package (CPV 4851), and who usually turns up
Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation 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: Communication software package (CPV 4851) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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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.
No small-firm winners recorded among this authority’s published awards in this sample.
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 West Midlands.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
No winner locations published for this authority. Local means a registered address in West Midlands.
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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 88 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.
The market share is a minimum: 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?
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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 bid18% / 25%
2–336% / 0%
4–627% / 25%
7+18% / 50%
How did awards compare with estimates?
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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 estimate14% / 80%
Within ±2%14% / 20%
Above estimate71% / 0%
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 4851No real estimate
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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 38 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid13%
2–332%
4–634%
7+21%
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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.
No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
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
- Goods
- 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
- 19 Oct 2026, 14:54 BST
- Last source update
- 19 Oct 2026, 14:54 BST
- Authority reference
C484465- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-098573- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-078af3Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
19 Oct 2026 → 11 Jan 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published1 day ago19 Oct 2026, 14:54 BST
- Today20 Oct 2026
- Market engagementin 20 days9 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
The Authority are running a PME process for 3 weeks.
- Tender notice expectedin 48 days7 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract startsin 82 days11 Jan 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published19 Oct 2026, 14:54 BSTUK2
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 noticeOther public bodies
- University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation TrustProcuring entityBBCS PC manage procurement activity on behalf of the Authority
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender