Official UK procurement notice
HPV Primary Cervical Screening Laboratory Service in the South West
Authority: NHS England South West (NHS & healthcare)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNHS England South West are looking to award a new contract for the provision of a HPV Primary Cervical Screening Laboratory Service to the existing provider, North Bristol NHS Trust.
The existing contract for the provision of a HPV Primary Cervical Screening Laboratory services in the South West is due to expire on 30th June 2026 and NHS England South West have proposed that a new contract should replace the existing contract at the end of its term. All requirements outlined in Regulation 6(5) of the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023 have been met, including not breaching the considerable change threshold, and therefore direct award process C has been deemed the appropriate provider selection process.
After conducting an assessment, taking into account the key criteria and applying the basic selection criteria, NHS England South West is content that the existing provider is satisfying the original contract and will likely satisfy the proposed contract to a sufficient standard.
The service is anticipated to commence on the 1st July 2026 for an initial contract duration of 21 months, with an option to extend for a further 1 year.
The total contract lifecycle value is £13,905,000 over the initial 21 months, and a maximum possible contract value of £19,677,000 including extensions.
This notice serves as an intention to award the contract to the existing provider under Direct Award Process C of the Provider Selection Regime (PSR).
CPV: Services provided by medical laboratories
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1NHS England South West are looking to award a new contract for the provision of a HPV…Awarded
NHS England South West are looking to award a new contract for the provision of a HPV Primary Cervical Screening Laboratory Service to the existing provider, North Bristol NHS Trust.
The cervical screening laboratory is an essential component of the cervical screening programme pathway.
The primary purpose of the cervical laboratory is to:
- receive and process samples taken for the purposes of the cervical screening programme in primary care and any other relevant setting across their designated geographies.
- send the results to the Cervical Screening Administration Service.
- refer women who require treatment to their local colposcopy clinic.
In addition, the laboratory has to:
- arrange the distribution of sample taking kits to all sample taking locations.
- maintain a database of sample takers, ensuring their training is up to date.
- distribute sample bags and arrange for samples to be transported to the laboratory - which may be using its own transport service, or by making use of local transport and 'spoke' arrangements in laboratories on multiple other acute sites across large geographical areas.
- ensure sample takers have a means of requesting tests electronically - typically a separate system from other 'order comms'.
- put in place arrangements to access histology results from associated colposcopy activity.
- support multi-disciplinary team meetings in each of the associated gynaecology services in order to arrive at a diagnosis/develop treatment plans.
- support invasive cancer audits in each of the associated gynaecology services.
- participation in local programme boards to support continuous quality improvement across the whole pathway.
- support the training of cyto-histopathologist and other specialist staff across the whole network.
This requires the laboratory to be at the heart of a complex network of services and relationships, with data sharing and logistics in place across multiple ICB geographies.
The existing contract for the provision of a HPV Primary Cervical Screening Laboratory services in the South West is due to expire on 30th June 2026 and NHS England South West have proposed that a new contract should replace the existing contract at the end of its term. All requirements outlined in Regulation 6(5) of the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023 have been met, including not breaching the considerable change threshold, and therefore direct award process C has been deemed the appropriate provider selection process.
After conducting an assessment, taking into account the key criteria and applying the basic selection criteria, NHS England South West is content that the existing provider is satisfying the original contract and will likely satisfy the proposed contract to a sufficient standard.
The service is anticipated to commence on the 1st July 2026 for an initial contract duration of 21 months, with an option to extend for a further 1 year.
The total contract lifecycle value is £13,905,000 over the initial 21 months, and a maximum possible contract value of £19,677,000 including extensions.
The Commissioner will be contracting for the services using the Full-Length NHS Standard Contract.
This notice serves as an intention to award the contract to the existing provider under Direct Award Process C of the Provider Selection Regime (PSR).
During the life of the proposed new contract, NHS England South West intend to consider a longer term commissioning strategy for the service.
This procurement has been carried out by NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit (SCW) on behalf of the Commissioners.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record · publisher note attached- Procedure method
- Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded without competition
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Direct award (no call for competition)
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 13 Apr 2026, 15:37 BST
- Last source update
- 27 Apr 2026, 11:09 BST
- Authority reference
WA18261- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-033379- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-068139Find a Tender
- Why no open competition
- The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive
- Published justification
This is a Provider Selection Regime (PSR) intention to award notice. The awarding of this contract is subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 do not apply to this award. The publication of this notice marks the start of the standstill period. Representations by providers must be made to the relevant authority by midnight on 24th April 2026. This contract has not yet formally been awarded; this notice serves as an intention to award under the PSR.
Publisher note: The decision to award this contract in line with Direct Award Process C was based on assessment against the basic selection criteria, which were assessed on a "Pass" / "Fail" basis, and the 5 key criteria, which were assessed on an "Assured" / "Not Assured" basis. Multiple assessment areas were included under each of the key criteria and the provider's performance against the current contract, as well as their likely performance against the new contract was assessed. Due to the nature of the assessment and the assessment methodology applied, each key criteria was deemed of equal importance and individual weightings were not applied. Evidence was gathered against the basic selection criteria and each of the key criteria using information available through the existing contract/contract management, published sources and information requests sent to the provider. An assessment panel was then convened to review the evidence gathered for each element of the assessment and agree an assessment score for each criteria, using the relevant assessment matrix. The provider scored a "pass" on all elements of the BSC and 'assured' on all elements of the key criteria assessment, therefore meeting requirements of the assessment. Award decisions have been recommended by the Direct Award Process C Assessment Panel, of which the NHS England South West's Public Health Senior Commissioning Manager was a member. Award decisions have been made by the NHS England South West Direct Commissioning Business Cases Panel. There are no identified conflicts of interest. This is a Provider Selection Regime (PSR) intention to award notice. The awarding of this contract is subject to the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023. For the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and The Procurement Act 2023 do not apply to this award. The publication of this notice marks the start of the standstill period. Representations by providers must be made to decision makers by midnight on 24th April 2026. This contract has not yet formally been awarded; this notice serves as an intention to award under the PSR. Written representations should be sent to [email protected].
Notice history
1 release on Find a TenderPublished amendments (1)
Contract award took place on 27th April 2026 following conclusion of the standstill period. The service is anticipated to commence on the 1st July 2026 for an initial contract duration of 21 months, with an option to extend for a further 1 year. The total contract lifecycle value is £13,905,000 over the initial 21 months, and a maximum possible contract value of £19,677,000 including extensions. …
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| NORTH BRISTOL NHS TRUST | £19,677,000 † | — | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 033379-2026-1 · NORTH BRISTOL NHS TRUST
- Signed
- 7 Apr 2026
- Value
- £19,677,000
- Status
- active
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1bids | — | — | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- North Bristol NHS TrustAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.