Provision of Testing Service for Total Protein, Immunoglobulins (IgG) and Albumin from apheresis donor and donation samples.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) are responsible for collecting plasma and platelet donations in England. There is a requirement for NHSBT to undertake total protein testing on these donations and the donors.

NHSBT currently outsource this testing to a third party. NHSBT are considering bringing this testing in house from 2027 and we have already undertaken Preliminary Market Engagement with suppliers of analysers that can run total protein, IgG and albumin assays. However, no decision has been made on whether NHSBT will definitely bring this in-house, therefore we are now looking to undertake Preliminary Market Engagement with suppliers who can provide this testing on behalf of NHSBT.

Please note a final decision on whether this testing will be brought in-house or continue to be outsourced will be informed by, among other things, information obtained from market engagement.

As part of the Preliminary Market Engagement exercise, we are seeking to engage with potential suppliers who can provide testing of total protein, IgG and albumin assays on behalf of NHSBT.

1. General Requirements – Background:

For Donor Safety:

All apheresis donors require a total protein test on their first donation, and this is repeated at every 8th donation and at least annually. Serum total protein must not be less than 60g/L.

For Quality Monitoring:

Total protein is tested in:

a. 1% of recovered plasma donations (from whole blood donations);

b. 1% of apheresis plasma donations;

c. 1% of concurrent apheresis plasma donations (obtained during platelet donation); and

d. A small number of washed products, which is typically below 0.5g/L.

Plasma total protein must not be less than 50g/L.

2. Requirement:

The requirement would be for a supplier to provide testing of Total Protein, IgG and Albumin from samples provided by NHSBT.

As a general overview, the contracted supplier would be responsible for:

a. Receiving daily deliveries of samples from NHSBT sites (including Filton, Colindale and Manchester);

b. Providing a testing service (including the staffing, key consumables (including assay-specific reagents), the analysers to test the samples and anything else required to provide a full testing service);

c. Providing the results in a timely manner to NHSBT, preferably directly into our existing IT system.

3. Contract Duration:

The contract duration is still under consideration. The current assumption is 5 years plus 2 x 1-year options. The estimated contract value is based on 7 years.