Cloud Infrastructure

UK Biobank ("UKB") currently hosts a cloud-based health Research Analysis Platform which makes research projects and data accessible to researchers ("RAP"). The current RAP was procured by UKB in 2020 and was developed by DNAnexus, in collaboration with, and cloud infrastructure provided by, Amazon Web Services.

As part of a series of changes to implement UKB's strategy to create a more secure data environment, UKB intends to initiate a procurement exercise for the development of a new RAP ("RAP2.0") and associated services to take account of advances in technology over the past 5 years and its future requirements. The RAP2.0 is anticipated to be the default way that most researchers will access and analyse UKB's biomedical database and it is anticipated to comprise one or more software platforms or data analysis services that work together to meet the diverse functional needs to the research community.

UKB currently intends to undertake separate procurements in relation to (i) the RAP2.0, (ii) cloud infrastructure which will host data on RAP2.0, and (iii) the development of an Output Checking System to control the extraction of data held by UKB for research purposes, whilst ensuring the ongoing security and confidentiality of the data. UKB has established an informatics working group consisting of senior experts who will provide guidance to help develop the requirements for the technology listed at (i) - (iii) above.

It is currently envisaged that the first procurement to be undertaken will relate to the OCS (in the first half of 2026), followed by a procurement for cloud infrastructure (in the second half of 2026), followed by the procurement of the RAP2.0 in 2027.

It is necessary for the procurement exercise for cloud infrastructure services to host the UKB data under the new RAP2.0 to be completed before preliminary market engagement can take place with suppliers and users regarding the requirements and strategic approach to the new RAP2.0. The identity of the cloud services infrastructure will inform the approach to the RAP2.0 procurement to ensure the compatibility of the technology underlying the platform or platforms. The current contract for the enablement of the RAP with DNAnexus expires in June 2026. It is intended that this contract will be amended in January 2026 to extend the services through to June 2028.

This Preliminary Market Engagement Notice relates to the proposed procurement of cloud infrastructure as the enabling foundation of the platform ecosystem for RAP2.0. Separate Preliminary Market Engagement Notices were published for RAP2.0 and OCS in April 2025 and are being updated.

It is envisaged that preliminary market engagement with interested cloud services suppliers will take place in 2026 to understand how storage capability and compute optimisation can enhance the functionality and security of UK Biobank's data. Further updates regarding preliminary market engagement activities will be included in a future update to this notice, as appropriate.