Invitation to Tender for Surge Laboratory Capacity in the event of a Health Emergency

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) invites suitably qualified suppliers to participate in a tender exercise for the provision of surge laboratory diagnostic testing capacity to support national responses to future public health emergencies. UKHSA aims to maintain a scalable ‘surge model’ that supplements its internal laboratory network with externally contracted PCR testing capability. This model ensures that, in the event of a significant public health threat, the UK can rapidly increase testing volumes to support diagnosis, surveillance, outbreak management and wider public health interventions. Under this procurement, the Supplier will be required to provide Clinical Laboratory Diagnostic Testing Services as part of a Public Health Critical service. The contract will operate under two defined readiness states: Cold State – the Supplier maintains operational readiness and must be capable of ramping up to Hot State within ten (10) weeks, as set out in Schedule 10 (Health Incident Response Plan). In this state, the Supplier is not required to provide the Guaranteed Daily Capacity. Hot State – the Supplier is fully operational and capable of delivering the Guaranteed Daily Capacity in response to an emergency activation by the Authority. The Supplier will operate in Cold State for the duration of the Contract unless formally instructed by UKHSA to transition to Hot State. Upon issue of a Notice to change readiness state, the Supplier must immediately implement its approved Health Incident Response Plan. There is no minimum test volume under this Contract. Allocation of test kits and samples will be at the sole discretion of UKHSA. Suppliers must demonstrate the capability to provide a Guaranteed Daily Capacity of at least 100,000 PCR tests per 24-hour period for the Target Pathogen when in Hot State. UKHSA is seeking robust, sustainable and scalable solutions that enable rapid operational mobilisation, particularly for the delivery of high volume PCR testing for Pathogen X. Suppliers should note that the indicative contract value refers to Cold State readiness only; the operational value during Hot State activation is expected to be substantially higher. The maximum estimated value by the Authority for the Cold State value £3m per annum with an expectation that costs should be £2m per annum or less.