Find a TenderCancelled
Published 16 Feb 2024, 16:17 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

Microbiology and Serology Testing

Official notice

Authority: NHS Blood and Transplant (Central government)·Consortium: 2 public authorities

4 lotsServicesOpen procedure
Published estimate£53,000,000total for 4 lots
Submissions closed 23 Apr 2024
Lots 4see the lot list below

What is being bought4 lots · detail below

Published requirement description

NHS Blood and Transplant requires a direct contractual relationship with either a manufacturer or any other economic operator for a complete end-to-end integrated solution for the Microbiology Serology screening/testing of blood and non-blood donations , which must include all the necessary equipment, installation, maintenance, consumables, reagents, software including an inter-interoperability provision with NHSBTs existing IT infrastructure and overall ongoing support mechanism that may be required to carry out the necessary testing.

CPV: Automation system · Blood analysis services · Blood-testing reagents · Diagnostic kits · Diagnostic systems · Diagnostics and radiodiagnostic devices and supplies · Immuno-analysis devices · Laboratory reagents · Laboratory services · Medical consumables

Lots and requirements (4)Procurement structure

4 lots · 2 with a published value (£52,000,000 together) · evaluation weights differ by lot
Lot #1Microbiology Serology Testing - Contract A NationalCancelled UKLot estimate not published

Microbiology & Serology Testing - Contract A National Testing

Delivery: UK
Lot #2Microbiology Serology Testing - Contract B ColindaleCancelled UKLot estimate not published

Microbiology & Serology Testing - Contract B Colindale Testing

Delivery: UK
Lot #3Microbiology and Serology Main TestingRenewal South WestPublished value£48,000,000

Lot 1 Provision of Microbiology & Serology Testing

Delivery: South West · Manchester & Filton
Extensions: Up to a maximum of 10 yearsVariant bids: not allowed
Lot #4Microbiology & Serology - MSL and Deceased Donor TestingRenewal South WestPublished value£4,000,000

Microbiology and Serology Testing for MSL including deceased donors.

Delivery: South West · Colindale
Extensions: Maximum 10 year contractVariant bids: not allowed

What it takes to win
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How this buyer will score bids.

The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).

Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add more
How bids were scored

Lots publish different evaluation splits; there is no single procedure weighting.

What this means for your bid
  • Price carries 75 points on every lot: a 10% discount moves about 7.5 points.

Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record · publisher note attached
Procedure method
Open procedure
Legal basis
CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Cancelled
Procurement threshold
Unspecified in notice
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Yes (GPA)
Recurring procurement
No (one-off requirement)
First published
16 Feb 2024, 16:17 GMT
Last source update
14 Nov 2025, 13:26 GMT
Award evaluation window
16 Feb 2024 – …
FTS notice number
2025/S 000-073989
Classification (CPV)
Automation systemBlood analysis servicesBlood-testing reagentsDiagnostic kitsDiagnostic systemsDiagnostics and radiodiagnostic devices and suppliesImmuno-analysis devicesLaboratory reagentsLaboratory servicesMedical consumables
Delivery area
UKSouth West (UKK12)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-043ae0 Find a Tender

Publisher note: NHSBT requires a direct contractual relationship with either a manufacturer or any other economic operator for a complete end-to-end integrated solution for the Microbiology Serological screening/testing of blood and non-blood donations , which must include all the necessary equipment, installation, maintenance, consumables, reagents, software including an inter-operability provision with NHSBTs existing IT infrastructure and overall ongoing support mechanism that may be required to carry out the necessary testing as stated below. All invitro diagnostic medical devices, for example, instruments, consumables and reagents must be CE/UKCA marked. GB will continue to recognise CE marking under the IVDD or IVDR ( following the government timetable) devices placed on the GB market must be UKCA marked under the UK MDR 2002 as amended. The end-to-end solution must be capable of producing test results in a format that can be utilised by NHSBT’s host IT system (PULSE) without the need for changes to PULSE.<br/><br/>The current contract held with NHSBT for the Microbiology Serology Service includes the supply of the mandatory and selective serology assays, consumables, instrumentation, uninterruptable power supply and software required for result management and interface(s) with host systems; including servers to support the IT infrastructure.<br/><br/>Mandatory testing is undertaken on all blood and non-blood donations. The assays required include: Hepatitis B (HBsAg), Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV 1&2 Ab/Ag), Hepatitis C (anti-HCV), syphilis antibodies, and anti-HBc for non-blood donations. These tests are undertaken on high throughput automated equipment. Additional discretionary testing is also undertaken on select donations. These include testing for human T- lymphotropic virus (anti-HTLV), cytomegalovirus (anti-CMV), malarial antibody (anti-malaria), Hepatitis B antibodies (anti-HBc & anti-HBs) and Trypanosome cruzi (anti-T. cruzi). Deceased (non-heart beating) donor screening is performed at Microbiology Services Laboratory (MSL), Colindale and the assays used in MSL Colindale must be suitable for deceased donor screening.<br/><br/><br/>Kit Evaluation Group (KEG) approval of the assays must be obtained prior to the award of the contract.<br/><br/>There is a requirement for automated instrumentation to enable high throughput testing of mandatory and discretionary testing for blood and non-blood donors, archiving and long-term storage of plasma samples as part of this contract. Instrumentation for sample sorting is also for consideration.<br/><br/>All Microbiology Serology testing requirements must be in accordance with the Guidelines for the Blood Transfusion service in the United Kingdom (https://www.transfusionguidelines.org/red-book) and rules and guidance for pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors.<br/><br/>NHSBT undertakes Microbiology Serology testing on approximately 1,600,000 donations per annum across two principal testing sites, namely Manchester and Filton, and also at the Microbiology Services Laboratory at Colindale.<br/><br/>This procurement contains Lots:<br/>Lot 1 – Contract A Microbiology and Serology Testing for Manchester and Filton<br/>Lot 2 – Contract B Microbiology and Serology Testing for Colindale and accommodates the requirements for Deceased Donor Screening

How it was run

Official notice
Run through: Atamis legacy domain (health-family.force.com) · Who buys & how to bid on Atamis
Supplier login requiredLanguage: EN
Access & registration note: Legacy Salesforce domain still used in notices — use the current Atamis portal · this portal address is a legacy domain; the operator has migrated

Tender documents are also served through a separate tool: https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome ↗

Submission deadline
23 Apr 2024, 18:00 BST
Submission channel
{"electronicSubmission","written"}
Accepted languages
en
Bid validity
420 days from the deadline
Bids opened
16 Feb 2024, 18:00 GMT
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release

Timeline

16 Feb 2024 → 14 Nov 2025 · 3 dates
  1. Bids opened
    16 Feb 2024, 18:00 GMT
  2. Submission deadline
    23 Apr 2024, 18:00 BST
  3. Notice published346 days ago
    14 Nov 2025, 13:26 GMT

Notice history

2 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 14 Nov 2025
  1. Status changed to unsuccessful
    14 Nov 2025, 13:26 GMT
  2. Buyer details updated
    14 Nov 2025, 13:26 GMT

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast
Awards 2

2 further award records carry no date or value.

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

2 public bodies on the notice

NHS Blood and Transplant

Contracting authorityCentral GovernmentBody governed by public lawHealth 203 Longmead Rd, Avon, Bristol, South West, BS16 7FGContact name, email, phone Published organisation website ↗

Dispute resolution & review bodies

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Tender pack and attachments

  • Economic and financial selection criteriatenderEconomic and financial selection criteria
  • Technical selection criteriatenderTechnical selection criteria