Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 18 Aug 2026, 15:28 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Blood Gas Managed Service for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board

Procurement agent: BETSI CADWALADR UNIVERSITY HEALTH BOARD·On behalf of: NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership-Procurement Services (hosted by Velindre University NHS Trust)

ServicesAbove threshold
Planned pipeline value£1,255,296pipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 7 yrsends 31 Mar 2035 · up to 31 Mar 2038 with extensions · starts 1 Apr 2028

What is being bought

Published requirement description

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) Pathology Services, within the Diagnostics, Clinical Support Services and Screening Services (DSCSS) Directorate, intends to procure an experienced Managed Service Provider to deliver a comprehensive Point of Care Testing (POCT) Blood Gas Analysis Service across the Health Board.

The successful provider shall support the delivery of a clinically robust, technologically advanced and fully integrated blood gas service that meets the requirements of patients, clinical users, laboratory services and regulatory bodies. The service must support compliance with all relevant statutory, regulatory and accreditation requirements, including those of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS). The service covers Adult and paediatric wards throughout the 3 main acute sites in Wrexham, Rhyl and Bangor, and will require dedicated Blood Gas instruments, associated connectivity solutions, and consumable management.

CPV: Analysers · Blood analysis services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1PlannedRenewal 7 yrs
Contract period: 1 Apr 2028 – 31 Mar 2035 (7 yrs) · up to 31 Mar 2038 with extensions
Delivery: Wales
Extensions: Extension options published

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published

How BETSI CADWALADR UNIVERSITY HEALTH BOARD buys Hospital and related services (CPV 8511), and who usually turns up

BETSI CADWALADR UNIVERSITY HEALTH BOARD’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Hospital and related services (CPV 8511) →

1

How the contest usually goes

Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.

Question for the bidWhat to do with it
How often do SMEs win?
i

How often small and medium firms win.

Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.

The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 168 of 181 known-size awards · market: CPV 8511 · Wales (Cymru), n=36
93%22%

Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.

How often do local suppliers win?
i

How often local firms win similar work.

Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.

Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in Wales (Cymru).

A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 16 of 34 known-location awards · market: CPV 8511 · Wales (Cymru), n=35
47%23%

Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.

How long to a decision?
i

How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.

Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.

Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: no decision dates published · market: CPV 8511 · UK-wide, n=22
—75 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 75 days of the bid deadline.

How often single-bid or direct?
i

How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.

Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.

Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.

Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.

Last 36 months.

Buyer: at least 35 of 45 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 8511 · Wales (Cymru), n=53
78%68%

Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.

How many bids did past lots attract?

i

How many bids past lots received.

Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.

Past bids do not predict this tender.

Last 36 months.

This buyer38 lots with bid counts · all categories
29% had one bid
The market20 lots with bid counts · CPV 8511 · Wales (Cymru)
75% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid29% / 75%
Buyer: 11 of 38 lots with published bid counts. Market: 15 of 20 lots with published bid counts.
2–355% / 15%
Buyer: 21 of 38 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 20 lots with published bid counts.
4–616% / 5%
Buyer: 6 of 38 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 20 lots with published bid counts.
7+0% / 5%
Buyer: 0 of 38 lots with published bid counts. Market: 1 of 20 lots with published bid counts.

How did awards compare with estimates?

i

Where winning prices landed against estimates.

Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.

Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.

Last 36 months.

This buyer23 lots with estimate and award · all categories
30% below estimate
The market34 lots with estimate and award · CPV 8511 · UK-wide
18% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate30% / 18%
Buyer: 7 of 23 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 6 of 34 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%26% / 50%
Buyer: 6 of 23 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 17 of 34 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate43% / 32%
Buyer: 10 of 23 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 11 of 34 lots with an estimate and award.
2

Assess each lot
i

What past awards tell you about each lot.

See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.

No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.

Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list

Lot #1CPV 851184 monthsPublished estimate£1.3m
Expected competition
i

How many bids this lot may attract.

The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.

Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 20 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet75% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 20 similar lots
1 bid75%
15 of 20 similar past lots received 1 bid (75%).
2–315%
3 of 20 similar past lots received 2–3 (15%).
4–65%
1 of 20 similar past lots received 4–6 (5%).
7+5%
1 of 20 similar past lots received 7+ (5%).
Check who supplied similar work and whether the route limits bidders.
Commercial price forecast
i

Where the award price may land.

The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.

No comparable awards for this lot yet.

A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.

—No model forecast yet
No comparable awards on record for this lot’s category yet. The published estimate is £1.3m, and the forecast stays empty until the market has a record to read.

Who has supplied this buyer on similar work?
i

Who has done similar work for this buyer.

Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.

A past supplier may not bid again.

SupplierThis buyer’s earlier contractLotAward valueWhy listed
Ortho Clinical DiagnosticsEarlier contractT.0340 Blood Transfusion Automation Managed Service Contract for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Boardstarted Dec 2026T.0340 Blood Transfusion Automation Managed Service Contract£3.6mMatched as the earlier contract

Who could compete for this lot?
i

Who could compete for this lot?

Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.

None is confirmed as a bidder.

Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.

About this data
  • Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
  • Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
  • Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
  • Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.

What this replaces
i

Who has done similar work for this buyer.

Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.

63% title match.

A past supplier may not bid again.

The prior contract this notice most likely re-tenders · matched by title and category (63% title match), the holder is not guaranteed to re-bid

T.0340 Blood Transfusion Automation Managed Service Contract for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board — held by Ortho Clinical Diagnostics; no contract end date published.

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Planned procurement
Procurement threshold
Above threshold (FTS publication)
Regulatory regime
Standard
Commercial structure
Stand-alone contract (no framework)
Competition type
Competitive procedure
GPA / WTO covered
Unspecified in notice
Recurring procurement
Unspecified in notice
First published
18 Aug 2026, 15:28 BST
Last source update
18 Aug 2026, 15:28 BST
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-078634
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
AnalysersBlood analysis services
Delivery area
Wales (UKL)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06e6bf Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

18 Aug 2026 → 1 Apr 2028 · 3 dates
  1. Planning notice published71 days ago
    18 Aug 2026, 15:28 BST
  2. Market engagement57 days ago
    1 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST

    We aim to hold pre tender engagement with interested parties virtually by using Microsoft Teams in September 2026 to discuss requirement to help shape the specification further. We will provide the questionnaire alongside the meeting invite to those who have expressed interest.

    Please register your interest by emailing nwssp.procurementcataloguepathology@wales.nhs.uk by 1st September 2026.

  3. Today
    29 Oct 2026
  4. Contract starts
    1 Apr 2028, 00:00 BST

Notice history

1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    18 Aug 2026, 15:28 BST
    UK2

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Pipeline notice
Awards (0)
No award published
Contracts (0)
No contract published
Bid statistics
No aggregate bid statistics published

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

3 public bodies on the notice

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board

Procurement agentPublic authority - central governmentWelsh devolved regulations apply GB-NHS: 7A1 Headquarters, Ysbyty Gwynedd, Penrhosgarnedd,, Bangor, Wales, LL57 2PWContact email

Clients of the procurement agent

Official documents & specifications (1)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure