HEV NAT Managed Service Contract

NHS Blood and Transplant is a Special Health Authority, responsible for the provision of blood components and tissues and a range of associated specialist laboratory and patient therapeutic services to hospitals in England. The Authority operates at a local level through a network of Blood Centres but is structured nationally for managerial control with a single management team under its own Chief Executive Officer. The Authority has two testing sites throughout England, collecting approximately 1.7 million blood and platelet donations and approximately 8,000 tissue donations each year. Within the Manufacturing and Logistics directorate of the Authority, the testing function performs a wide range of testing services; these include the large-scale molecular and serological screening of blood, tissue and stem cell donations for a range of infectious agents.

The Authority requires a fully integrated microbiology managed equipment service for Hepatitis E virus (HEV) ribonucleic acid (RNA) NAT Testing. This includes the assay, fully automated equipment, consumables and data management software required to send final results to the Authority’s information management system. Tenderers are required to respond on the basis of offering a fully automated system which can meet the Requirements as set out in the Specification. The Authority’s current contractual arrangements for HEV NAT Testing expire on 31st January 2017. The Authority requires the successful Tenderer’s system to be fully implemented, validated and carrying out testing at both of the Authority’s sites no later than three months after contract award.