Official UK procurement notice
NWLP and SWLP Pre-market engagement for a Pathology IT LIMS system
Authority: Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionNorth West London Pathology & South West London Pathology are jointly seeking to understand market capacity and supplier capability in relation to a future procurement for a Pathology IT Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) solution and associated implementation, migration, integration, training and support services. The purpose of this early market engagement is to inform the Authority on available market solutions, delivery approaches, implementation risks, commercial models, and opportunities to further strengthen NWLP’s and SWLP's pathology operating model.
Both NWLP and SWLP’s current state demonstrates a thriving, high-performing pathology network, but also one operating at scale and under continued transformation. The networks have highlighted sustained testing growth, increasing operational complexity, ongoing investment in digital pathology and automation, and the need for resilient infrastructure, strong interoperability beyond the traditional HL7 messaging and future-proofed digital capability. Both NWLP and SWLP laboratories support large-scale hub and spoke operations, urgent and routine testing pathways, a wide range of specialist diagnostics, and extensive GP and community connectivity.
A future of an Interoperable LIMS procurement is therefore anticipated to support both NWLP and SWLP in maintaining clinical safety, standardisation, regulatory compliance, operational performance while enabling further digital transformation and leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to support the future delivery of pathology and diagnostic services. Both NWLP and SWLP wishes to understand how the market can support disciplines including biochemistry, haematology, blood transfusion, microbiology, immunology, H&I, virology, cellular pathology, andrology, genetics and molecular workflows; provide robust interfaces into EPRs, national systems, automation platforms and analytics tools; and deliver a scalable platform aligned with NWLP and SWLP’s strategic direction.
Suppliers who are interested in this opportunity should complete the attached questionnaire and respond back by 1st October 2026 at 12 noon. To access the opportunity, please use Atamis via contract reference C467704
CPV: Medical software package · Pathology services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust buys Hospital and related services (CPV 8511), and who usually turns up
Imperial College Healthcare NHS 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: Hospital and related services (CPV 8511) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
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 Greater London (authority’s region).
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.
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.
Half of these awards have an award date within 75 days of the bid deadline.
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.
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.
1 bid33%
2–350%
4–60%
7+17%
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.
Below estimate18%
Within ±2%50%
Above estimate32%
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.
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 8511Published estimate£28m
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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 334 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid26%
2–333%
4–624%
7+16%
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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.
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.
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.
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
- 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
- 24 Aug 2026, 11:26 BST
- Last source update
- 24 Aug 2026, 11:26 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-080252- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06ea51Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
24 Aug 2026 → 1 Sept 2028 · 4 dates- Planning notice published65 days ago24 Aug 2026, 11:26 BST
- Market engagement27 days ago1 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
Both NWLP and SWLP wishes to understand how the market can deliver a scalable platform aligned with NWLP and SWLP’s strategic direction.
- Today29 Oct 2026
- Tender notice expectedin 183 days30 Apr 2027, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts1 Sept 2028, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published24 Aug 2026, 11:26 BSTUK2
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
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender