Portable Low-Field MRI System

Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (the "Trust") has awarded a contract for the provision of a portable low-field (0.064 Tesla) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. The contract will also include associated peripherals, training, support and maintenance services for a period of five (5) years commencing on the date of delivery of the products to the agreed final shipping location.

It is considered that the award of the contract following a negotiated procedure without prior publication is lawful in accordance with regulation(s) 32(5)(a) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015, whereby the portable low-field MRI system will be "manufactured purely for the purpose of research, experimentation, study or development, and shall not include quantity production to establish commercial viability or to recover research and development costs".

The portable low-field MRI scanner will be used for the purpose of accelerating and developing local place-based neuroimaging research into the process of assessment and diagnosis of dementia, in which timely access to neuroimaging is frequently a rate-limiting step. The scanner will also be available for researchers addressing other mental health disorders, such as research aligned to the new Kent Complex Psychosis Service and investigation of non-dementia mental illness in older and younger adults.

It is also considered that the award of the contract following a negotiated procedure without prior publication is lawful in accordance with regulation(s) 32(2)(a)(ii) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015, whereby "competition is absent for technical reasons".

Following market research, the Trust is confident the required product and associated services are only capable of being provided by a single supplier. The Trust's guiding principles being the requirement for a portable low field MRI system most suitable for the acceleration and development of local place-based neuroimaging clinical research. This includes:

• Approved for commercial sale in the UK (UKCA marked);
• Small and highly portable design in order to fit through doorways and elevators, and to provide ease of manoeuvrability;
• Magnetic configuration to enable researchers to work safely with participants during testing;
• Ability to be powered through standard electrical outlets;
• Low power consumption to reduce running costs;
• Open design to reduce participant anxiety; and
• Controlled through portable user-friendly wireless device (e.g. tablet).

It is the Trust's belief that the awarded contractor was the only economic operator capable of supplying an existing product within the Trust's timescales, and which fulfils these requirements in order to support the Trust's objectives for undertaking local place-based neuroimaging clinical research.

Additional information:

The Trust considers that the award of the contract without prior publication of a contract notice was permitted by Part 2 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

The Trust published a voluntary ex ante transparency notice (ref: 2023/S 000-036285) via Find a Tender service on 8th December 2023, expressing its intention to award a contract via a negotiated procedure without prior publication. Prior to the award of contract, the Trust observed a standstill period of at least 10 days following the publication of this notice, beginning with the day after the date on which the notice was published.