Official UK procurement notice
Supply and support of High-Throughput Blood Group Genotyping
Authority: NHS Blood and Transplant (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNHS Blood & Transplant (NHSBT) Genomics function intends to undertake a tender exercise for the supply and support of high-throughput blood group genotyping.
We would like to work with future suppliers of choice to procure a high-throughput Human Erythrocyte Antigen (HEA) and Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) genotyping system in an efficient, timely and cost-effective manner to meet the demands and expectations of our customers and the patients we serve.
Prior to commencing a formal procurement process and to help inform our strategy, NHSBT is seeking to engage with suppliers of commercially available high-throughput solutions that can be used for genotyping red cell types (HEA) and HLA types. NHSBT would like to improve our knowledge of all current and future systems available in the marketplace. This will aid identification of opportunities and gauge market interest in this field.
NHSBT requires a high-throughput (20,000 – 80,000 test per annum) blood group genotyping solution that provides either:
equipment and consumables to genotype blood group genetic variants
or
equipment and consumables to genotype blood group genetic variants and blood group typing software to generate predicted HEA and HLA types
The proposed solution must enable genotyping of blood group variants associated with an extended panel of red cell blood groups (Appendix 1).
The solution must enable the determination of Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) types (alleles) at the following genes: HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-C, HLA-DRA, HLA-DRB1, HLA-DRB3, HLA-DRB4, HLA-DRB5, HLA-DQA1, HLA-DQB1, and HLA-DPB1.
Blood group genotyping software for both HEA and HLA typing must support compliance with relevant national and international typing and clinical standards, including ISBT, JPAC, and IPD-IMGT/HLA.
Respondents will be invited to pre-procurement engagement meetings on the 4th, 5th and/or 6th May 2026 these will be held remotely. To enable NHSBT to finalise arrangements (e.g. send meeting details and agree time slots) for the supplier engagement meetings, interested organisations are required to send an expression of interest via email to [email protected] by no later than 17:00 hrs (GMT) on 23/03/2026. This should include a list of your potential attendees and a brief overview (or a website link) of the Goods / Services which might be offered. Please include options, if available, to offer a managed service contract.
No business whatsoever is guaranteed under any resulting framework agreement or contract, and there is no guarantee that any framework agreement or contract will be put in place in relation to this notice. No compensation etc. will be paid if a tender or resulting framework agreement is withdrawn for any reason. Bidders should take part in this process only on the basis that they fully understand and accept this position.
It should be noted that this procurement exercise may allow other Health authorities to utilise any contracts/ framework agreements awarded.
Appendix 1 – HEA blood group systems
ABO
Rh
Kell
Duffy
Kidd
MNS
Dombrock
Colton
Cromer
Diego
Knops
Lutheran
LW
Scianna
Cartwright (Yt)
Vel
P1PK (P system)
Wright
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£2.0m
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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
- 24 Mar 2026, 12:16 GMT
- Last source update
- 24 Mar 2026, 12:16 GMT
- Authority reference
C433877- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-026754- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06729aFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
24 Mar 2026 → 1 Mar 2027 · 4 dates- Planning notice published215 days ago24 Mar 2026, 12:16 GMT
- Market engagement169 days ago8 May 2026, 23:59 BST
Respondents will be invited to pre-procurement engagement meetings on the 4th, 5th and/or 6th May 2026 these will be held remotely. To enable NHSBT to finalise arrangements (e.g. send meeting details and agree time slots) for the supplier engagement meetings, interested organisations are required to send an expression of interest via email to [email protected] by no later than 17:00 hrs (GMT) on 23/03/2026. This should include a list of your potential attendees and a brief overview (or a website link) of the Goods / Services which might be offered.
- Tender notice expected54 days ago31 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
- Today25 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 127 days1 Mar 2027
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published24 Mar 2026, 12:16 GMTUK2
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