Pathology services

Tender description

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust (RMH) is looking to refresh the immunohistochemistry (IHC) and in-situ hybridisation (ISH) provision for the department of cellular pathology at both the Sutton and Chelsea sites and to build greater capacity and resilience into the system enabling the department to cope with future workload increases, implement additional diagnostic tests, and provide enhanced turnaround times, whilst delivering a streamlined workflow, quality improvements and efficiency savings. The cellular pathology department is a national referral centre for cancer diagnostics with expertise in soft tissue sarcomas, haematological (as part of the Trust Specialist Integrated Haematological Malignancies Diagnostic Service (SIHMDS)), Genito-urinary and gynaecological malignancies. An analytical system is being sought which must not only be compact but offer a significant degree of automation and be capable of performing all tests with minimal operator input. The system will need to demonstrate optimal staining in line with requirements defined by our consultant pathologists; it should be noted that each site has specific requirements based on the work activity at those sites. The successful bidder(s) will have an excellent track record in field support and customer care. Due to the differing and specific requirements of each site the Trust is prepared to award based on the best solution for each site. It should be noted that this may, or may not, require a different supplier at each site. The suppliers are invited to bid for either Chelsea, Sutton or both sites. It is expected that the successful bidder will be at the forefront of technological development in the field and their system will be able to cope with the rising demand placed on laboratory services and, alleviate some of the pressures on staff within the laboratory whilst delivering a robust efficient cost effective service. The overall aim of the project is to refresh the immunohistochemistry provision at the Chelsea and Sutton sites and to build greater capacity and resilience into the system. This should allow the laboratory to cope with future workload increases, implement additional diagnostic tests, and provide enhanced turnaround times, whilst delivering a streamlined workflow, quality improvements and efficiency savings. The Trust is asking service providers to deliver a contract that will: • install and maintain a comprehensive solution for the IHC and ISH service provision for the department of cellular pathology (Chelsea and Sutton site); • provide all reagents and ancillary consumables at the required frequency to deliver the service described; • provide the necessary IT connectivity to integrate the equipment into the laboratory information management system and enable laboratory management to analyse the data; • provide other services, such as practical support for optimisation, initial validation and verification, training, contract management support, reagents and other consumables supply and value-added items such as service improvement; • allow for new instrumentation, processes, reagents and software which may come online during the contract tender is divided into 2 lots. Bidders can bid for one lot only or for both lots all documents will be published on 5 October 2020.