Official UK procurement notice
Surge Capacity for FFP3 Fit Testing
Authority: Department of Health & Social Care (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is looking to understand current fit-testing capacity across the UK and how this could be increased quickly in a pandemic. This work will help DHSC to develop a fit-testing surge plan and put in place practical delivery models that can be used during a pandemic, as part of wider pandemic preparedness planning.
Background
To support HMG’s Pandemic Preparedness Strategy [1] and reflect recommendations published in the COVID-19 Inquiry module 3 report [2], DHSC is conducting market engagement to better understand the capacity for fit testing. This will consider capacity during business as usual and a pandemic, recognising that during a pandemic demand for fit testing for filtering facepiece class 3 (FFP3) respirators across health and adult social care could increase rapidly. This would result in a significant volume of staff requiring fit testing quickly in the early stages of a pandemic. Without a surge plan, there’s a risk of delays in enabling frontline staff to safely use FFP3s, which is a key risk to health and social care pandemic resilience.
[1] www.gov.uk/government/publicati… ↗
[2] covid19.public-inquiry.uk/documents/module-3-f… ↗
Who we want to hear from
We are seeking input from:
- fit testers and/or organisations providing fit testing
- fit-testing trainers and/or organisations providing fit testing training
DHSC recognises that organisations may not have previously surged fit testing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
How to take part
Please complete this Microsoft Forms survey:
forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx ↗
The deadline is Tuesday 23rd June 2026, at 11:59pm, and the survey is likely to take less than 20 minutes if you have the information readily available.
CPV: Health and social work services · Machines and apparatus for testing and measuring · Occupational clothing, special workwear and accessories
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Department of Health & Social Care buys Machines and apparatus for testing and measuring (CPV 3854), and who usually turns up
Department of Health & Social Care’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: Machines and apparatus for testing and measuring (CPV 3854) →
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.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside 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 29 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.
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.
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 bid30% / 50%
2–328% / 50%
4–626% / 0%
7+16% / 0%
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 estimate50% / 57%
Within ±2%50% / 29%
Above estimate0% / 14%
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 3854Estimate not published
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 10 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid40%
2–330%
4–620%
7+10%
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.
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
- Unspecified in notice
- 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
- 1 Jun 2026, 11:19 BST
- Last source update
- 1 Jun 2026, 11:19 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-051275- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06aa0bFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
1 Jun 2026 → 23 Jun 2026 · 3 dates- Contract starts148 days ago1 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST
- Planning notice published147 days ago1 Jun 2026, 11:19 BST
- Market engagement125 days ago23 Jun 2026, 23:59 BST
Complete the survey here: forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx ↗
The survey deadline is Tuesday 23rd June 2026.
Individual responses will be kept confidential within DHSC and used only to understand and quantify fit testing capacity, and explore options for delivering fit testing at scale during a surge. Only aggregated and anonymised findings may be shared more widely.
Within the survey, you can choose whether or not to provide contact details. During or shortly after the response window, DHSC may wish to contact respondents for a short 1-to-1 meeting to discuss the information in your survey response and the wider context of your operations. Participation in 1-to-1 meetings will be entirely voluntary, but your participation may help to improve surge planning in the UK.
This engagement is separate to the recent “Fit-Testing Solutions – Early Market Engagement” (www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/009517-2026 ↗), which focused on longer-term options to improve fit-testing capacity, including considering potential digital solutions.
This engagement is neither a procurement exercise nor a call for competition. DHSC does not commit to any specific action at this stage. This engagement is for information gathering only. Further engagement may follow as required.
For any questions about this engagement, please contact:
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published1 Jun 2026, 11:19 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