Pathology Managed Service – Preliminary Market Engagement

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust) is undertaking preliminary market engagement under sections 16 and 17 of the Procurement Act 2023 ahead of a planned procurement of a Pathology Managed Service.

The Trust intends to procure a long-term managed service covering the equipment, automation, middleware, reagents, consumables, managed inventory, maintenance, support and training for its pathology laboratories. The Trust’s staff will continue to operate the equipment and report results; this is not an outsourcing of the pathology service. The service is expected to be delivered in two phases: Phase 1 at the existing laboratories at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and Cheltenham General Hospital, and Phase 2 following a move to a hub laboratory, the location of which is yet to be confirmed, with urgent (Hot Lab) provision retained at one or both current sites.

The indicative structure is three lots: Lot 1 Lead Managed Service (Blood Sciences, including the integrator role for the whole service), Lot 2 Infection Sciences and Lot 3 Cellular Pathology. The assumed term is 12 years with two optional one-year extensions. The lot structure, term and route to market are working assumptions and are subjects of this engagement.

The purpose of the engagement is to test with the market the deliverability of the draft specification, the achievability of the draft key performance indicators, the clarity of the draft quality questions and proposed evaluation approach, and the proposed lot structure, phasing and commercial model, so that the final tender documents are well informed and capable of attracting competitive bids. No prices are sought.

The engagement is a written exercise. Suppliers are invited to review an Information Pack and working drafts of the Consolidated Service Specification, Quality Questions and Scoring approach and KPI Schedule, and to return a Supplier Engagement Questionnaire.

How to take part: register on the Trust’s e-procurement portal (Atamis, Health Family eCommercial System) and express interest in the engagement to access the documents. Completed questionnaires and a Conflict of Interest declaration must be submitted through the portal by 17:00 on 4 December 2026. Clarification questions must be raised through the portal messaging facility only; questions and answers will be anonymised and shared with all participants. Suppliers must not contact Trust staff or advisers directly.

Participation is voluntary, at the supplier’s own cost, and is not a condition of taking part in any subsequent procurement. Responses are not evaluated or scored and confer no advantage. All material shared during the engagement will be made available with the tender documents so that suppliers who do not take part have the same information. Nothing in this notice commits the Trust to proceed with a procurement or to adopt any particular scope, lot structure, procedure or timetable.