Surge Laboratory Capacity in the event of a Health Emergency
Estimated value
—
Awarded value
£331.2m
Suppliers
1
Lots
1
Published
12 Jun 2026
Description
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 withi
Scope
- Reference
- C428907
- Commercial tool
- Standalone contract
- Contract dates
- 21 May 2026 to 21 May 2029
- CPV classifications
- 71900000
- Contract locations
- UK, United Kingdom
- Particular suitability
- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)
Award criteria
Criteria the buyer will use to evaluate bids.
| Name | Description | Type | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Value | — | quality | 10.00% |
| Supply Chain Mapping | — | quality | 10.00% |
| Resilient Performance and Business Continuity | — | quality | 15.00% |
| Interoperability - Data Sharing, LIMS Integration and API Capability | — | quality | 15.00% |
| Capacity, Flexibility and Scalability | — | quality | 15.00% |
| Hot State Operational Delivery & Quality Assurance | — | quality | 15.00% |
| Health Incident Response & Cold to Hot State Activation | — | quality | 20.00% |
Participation
Conditions suppliers must meet to bid.
Please refer to the PSQ and the tender documents.
Submission & procedure
- Procedure
- Open procedure
Award details
Awarded supplier(s), contract period and value as published in the award notice.
Awarded value
£331.2m
Award date
11 Jun 2026
Contract start
24 Jun 2026
Contract end
24 Jun 2029