Official UK procurement notice
Sample Tube DeCappers · UK public procurement notice
Authority: NHS Blood and Transplant (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionWithin NHSBT, the Testing function in the Blood Supply Directorate performs a wide range of testing services, these include but are not limited to the large-scale blood grouping and microbiological screening of blood and tissue donations.
The Authority has two main laboratories in England, in which approximately 1.9 million blood donations are tested each year. The laboratories are located in Filton (Bristol) and Manchester. Manchester is also the site of a third laboratory, which tests all donations in England for HAV/B19.
Each donation collected includes a minimum of 4 x 6mL sample tubes, taken into K2 EDTA tubes which have colour coded caps for identification purposes.
The Authority requires automated decapping equipment at each of the Authority’s three Testing laboratories. Decappers must have sufficient capacity to process the daily workload of each laboratory within the required timeframe and with a minimum decapping success rate of 95%.
In Filton and Manchester main laboratories, tubes are tested in 3 parallel workstreams, and therefore it is necessary that 70% of all tubes would be decapped within 3 hours.
Approximate workload of each site:
- Filton Testing: approximately 10,500 sample tubes per day
- Manchester Testing: approximately 4,500 sample tubes per day
- Manchester HAV/B19: approximately 5000 sample tubes per day. Testing occurs in two waves and does not impact the desired criteria
Additional functionality such as sample sorting, recapping and re-racking of tubes would be considered.
The Supplier must confirm the In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices (as defined by the regulations indicated below) are fit for their intended purposes and are:
- CE marked in compliance with either European Commission Directive 98/79/EC on In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices (IVDMD) or Regulation (EU) 2017/746, and/or;
- Devices must be UKCA marked in compliance with UK Medical Devices Regulations 2002, as amended, from 1st July 2024.
To register your interest in this opportunity, please contact [email protected] by Friday 15th May 2026.
CPV: Medical equipments
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How NHS Blood and Transplant buys Medical equipments (CPV 3310), and who usually turns up
NHS Blood and Transplant’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Medical equipments (CPV 3310) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
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.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in South West England (authority’s region).
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards have an award date within 17 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?
i
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 bid50% / 37%
2–340% / 53%
4–610% / 11%
7+0% / 0%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
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 estimate46% / 71%
Within ±2%23% / 0%
Above estimate31% / 29%
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 3310Published estimate£500k
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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 22 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid18%
2–373%
4–69%
7+0%
i
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
- 29 Apr 2026, 10:38 BST
- Last source update
- 29 Apr 2026, 10:38 BST
- Authority reference
C442477- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-039018- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-068daaFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
29 Apr 2026 → 1 Jan 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published178 days ago29 Apr 2026, 10:38 BST
- Market engagement161 days ago15 May 2026, 23:59 BST
As part of engagement, it is proposed the supplier will complete an initial supplier questionnaire and provide information as to what they are able to offer NHSBT, providing details in context the NHSBT Testing labs.
There may also be an opportunity for NHSBT to receive a loan decapper to evaluate.
- Tender notice expected114 days ago1 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today24 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 69 days1 Jan 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published29 Apr 2026, 10:38 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
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