TenderlineUK
Procurement Intelligence
Search
Find a TenderPlanned procurementPreliminary market engagement notice
Published 3 Apr 2026, 16:27 BST

Official UK procurement notice

Molecular Equipment Diagnostics Refresh

Official notice Competition analysis

Procurement agent: Regional Business Services Organisation Procurement and Logistics Service·On behalf of: Belfast Health and Social Care Trust

GoodsBelow threshold
Sectors: Medical Devices & Pharma (33) Delivery: Delivery location not published
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected Date not publishedfrom the planned procurement notice
Contract term 8 yrsends 2 Jun 2036 · starts 1 Jun 2028

What is being bought

Published requirement description

This is a Preliminary Market Engagement published by the Business Services Organisation (BSO), Procurement and Logistics Service (PaLS) , on behalf of the Buyer - the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust (BHSCT), to enter into pre-market engagement with interested suppliers, as PaLS are commencing work for the provision of a solution for a molecular equipment refresh for the (i)Regional Molecular Diagnostics Service (RMDS) which includes: Somatic Service and Germline Genomics, which offers services for Germline and Somatic testing to improve diagnosis, treatment options and management of patients with cancer, haematological conditions and rare genetic disorders; (ii)Microbiology/Virology Service which provides molecular testing to detect, quantify and characterise a broad range of pathogens causing infection, for clinical, infection prevention and control, and public health teams in Northern Ireland; (iii)Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics service which services to support Renal and Haemopoietic Stem Transplantation, urgent typing for all deceased donors in Northern Ireland and testing for disease association and adverse drug reactions.

CPV: Diagnostic devices · Diagnostic supplies · Diagnostic systems · Diagnostics and radiodiagnostic devices and supplies · Disposable non-chemical medical consumables and haematological consumables · Immuno-analysis devices · Medical consumables · Medical equipments

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Planned 8 yrs
Contract period: 1 Jun 2028 – 2 Jun 2036 (8 yrs)
33100000 Medical equipments33124000 Diagnostics and radiodiagnostic devices and supplies33124100 Diagnostic devices33124110 Diagnostic systems33124130 Diagnostic supplies33127000 Immuno-analysis devices

Who is likely to bid for this lot ↓

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

How Belfast Health and Social Care Trust buys Medical equipments (CPV 3310), and who usually turns up

Belfast Health and Social Care Trust’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: Medical equipments (CPV 3310) →

1

How the contest usually goes

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

Question for the bid
This buyerBelfast Health and Social Care Trust · division 33
The marketMedical equipments (CPV 3310)
What 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: 5 of 133 known-size awards · market: CPV 3310 · UK-wide, n=190
4%27%

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 Northern Ireland (authority’s region).

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

Last 36 months.

Buyer: 3 of 130 known-location awards · market: CPV 3310 · Northern Ireland (authority’s region), n=5
2%20%

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 3310 · UK-wide, n=7
—45 days

Half of these awards have an award date within 45 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.

The buyer’s share is a minimum: 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 149 of 150 procurements with awards had no recorded rival · market: CPV 3310 · Northern Ireland (authority’s region), n=8
99%63%

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 buyer23 lots with bid counts · all categories
35% had one bid
The market6 lots with bid counts · CPV 3310 · Northern Ireland (authority’s region)
50% had one bid
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
1 bid35% / 50%
Buyer: 8 of 23 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 6 lots with published bid counts.
2–339% / 50%
Buyer: 9 of 23 lots with published bid counts. Market: 3 of 6 lots with published bid counts.
4–622% / 0%
Buyer: 5 of 23 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 6 lots with published bid counts.
7+4% / 0%
Buyer: 1 of 23 lots with published bid counts. Market: 0 of 6 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 buyer12 lots with estimate and award · all categories
8% below estimate
The market6 lots with estimate and award · CPV 3310 · UK-wide
83% below estimate
Buyer / market · select a colour for counts
Below estimate8% / 83%
Buyer: 1 of 12 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 5 of 6 lots with an estimate and award.
Within ±2%17% / 0%
Buyer: 2 of 12 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 0 of 6 lots with an estimate and award.
Above estimate75% / 17%
Buyer: 9 of 12 lots with an estimate and award. Market: 1 of 6 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 3396 monthsEstimate not published

This lot lists more than one class in CPV 33. The comparison uses that group.

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 68 past lots.

A forecast, not a list of bidders.

—No model forecast yet28% chance of a single bid
Past bids on 68 similar lots
1 bid28%
19 of 68 similar past lots received 1 bid (28%).
2–325%
17 of 68 similar past lots received 2–3 (25%).
4–615%
10 of 68 similar past lots received 4–6 (15%).
7+32%
22 of 68 similar past lots received 7+ (32%).
Comparable past lots usually drew 3 bids.
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.

—Estimate not published
The buyer published no estimate for this lot, so there is nothing to forecast against. A price prediction here would be a number about a number we do not have.

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.

No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.

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.

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Goods
Notice status
Planned procurement
Procurement threshold
Below threshold
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
3 Apr 2026, 16:27 BST
Last source update
6 May 2026, 09:33 BST
Authority reference
6068868
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-041339
Latest notice
Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
Classification (CPV)
Diagnostic devicesDiagnostic suppliesDiagnostic systemsDiagnostics and radiodiagnostic devices and suppliesDisposable non-chemical medical consumables and haematological consumablesImmuno-analysis devicesMedical consumablesMedical equipments
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-067c77 Find a Tender

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

3 Apr 2026 → 1 Jun 2028 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published206 days ago
    3 Apr 2026, 16:27 BST
  2. Latest notice published173 days ago
    6 May 2026, 09:33 BST
  3. Market engagement168 days ago
    11 May 2026, 23:59 BST

    This process will include an initial tender structure document where prospective suppliers will indicate which of the proposed lots they feel they would be interested in supplying. Upon completion and submission of this tender structure questionnaire the prospective supplier will then be sent the specific lot questionnaires they have expressed interest in.

    The initial Tender structure questionnaire can be obtained by contacting palsgransha.sourcing@hscni.net and requesting a CP12 Preliminary market engagement Tender Structure questionnaire for Tender 6068868 Molecular equipment Refresh.

    Important Deadlines

    Submission Deadline: All submissions for the Preliminary Market Engagement Questionnaire must

    be submitted by 15:00 on 29/04/2026.

    Please note:Submissions received after this deadline will not be considered.

    Completed questionnaires must be returned via email to

    palsgransha.sourcing@hscni.net no later than 15:00 on 29/04/2026.

    **The only change to this notice is the extension of the submission deadline by 1 week**

    **Deadline changed from 29/04/26 @15:00 to 06/05/26 @15:00**

    PLEASE NOTE: The engagement deadline has been further extended to 11/05/2026 @ 15:00hrs to facilitate as wide a market response as possible.

  4. Today
    27 Oct 2026
  5. Contract starts
    1 Jun 2028, 00:00 BST

Notice history

3 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 3 Apr 2026
  1. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    3 Apr 2026, 16:27 BST
    UK2
  2. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    28 Apr 2026, 14:52 BST
    UK2
  3. Preliminary market engagement notice published
    6 May 2026, 09:33 BST
    UK2
Published amendments (1)

PLEASE NOTE: The engagement deadline has been further extended to 11/05/2026 @ 15:00hrs to facilitate as wide a market response as possible.

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

2 public bodies on the notice

Business Services Organisation Procurement and Logistics Service

Procurement agentPublic authority - central governmentNorthern Irish devolved regulations apply GB-PPON: PWNJ-1991-NGDW 77 Boucher Crescent, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT12 6HUContact email

Clients of the procurement agent

  • Belfast health and Social Care TrustProcuring entityBelfast Health and Social Care Trust is the buyer in this procurement.GB-PPON: PLQJ-5727-JCLR Belfast, Northern IrelandContact email

Official documents & specifications (3)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure