Planning

Fit-Testing Solutions - Early Market Engagement

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Planning

03 Feb 2026 at 14:36

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Summary of the contracting process

The Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC) in the United Kingdom is initiating an early market engagement process concerning "Fit-Testing Solutions" for respirator fit testing, particularly for Filtering Facepiece Class 3 (FFP3) masks. This endeavour sits within the broader industry categories of health and social work services, and medical apparatus. The initiative, currently in the planning stage, involves multiple roundtable discussions scheduled on 24th, 25th, and 26th February 2026 in London. Prospective participants are encouraged to register their interest by 17th February 2026, with a subsequent survey open until 2nd March 2026, aimed at exploring long-term, innovative solutions to improve fit-testing capacities, including potential technological advancements.

This market engagement represents a unique opportunity for businesses involved in health and social care equipment, digital innovation, and AI technology development to present potential solutions for expanding fit-testing capacity. Enterprises such as manufacturers of respirators and fit-testing machines, providers of fit testing services, and digital solution developers stand to benefit the most. With the UK health sector encompassing a vast workforce and the ongoing demand for efficient protection measures, participating businesses can leverage this initiative to contribute to vital healthcare solutions while expanding their footprint and establishing significant partnerships within the public sector. Such involvement could position these businesses at the forefront of addressing a critical industry challenge, offering substantial growth potential.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

Fit-Testing Solutions - Early Market Engagement

Notice Description

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is looking to engage stakeholders to explore how the UK can strengthen capacity for respirator fit testing across health and adult social care, namely for "Filtering Facepiece Class 3" (FFP3) masks. FFP3 masks offer high levels of protection, removing at least 99% of airborne particles such as viruses, toxic dusts, and aerosols. To ensure this level of protection is achieved, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) requires in-person fit testing by a trained tester. There's an ongoing shortage of respirator fit-testing capacity across the health and care sector. During business as usual, adult social care and the NHS can have limited need for tight-fitting respirators. However, changes in demand (such as during a pandemic) could significantly constrain access to appropriate protection without sufficient fit-testing capability. DHSC is therefore seeking input from stakeholders with relevant experience and expertise to identify challenges and potential solutions. This engagement is seeking input from a wide range of stakeholders that have direct or indirect involvement in delivering fit testing across health and social care, with a focus on longer-term, innovative approaches to improving fit-testing capacity, including digital or artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. In a separate engagement exercise, DHSC is planning to engage exclusively with fit-testing providers, specifically to gain further understanding of the current fit-testing market and landscape, and implications for associated surge capacity to delivering fit testing in a future pandemic. Thus, this other exercise will aim to deliver increased resilience and preparedness for a future pandemic, if required, in the near term, while longer-term initiatives are defined and pursued. This could be a significant opportunity to contribute towards developing a solution for fit testing across health and social care, helping to address a need that is currently not being met. In England, there were a total of 1.71 million workforce posts in adult social care in 2024/25 (plus unpaid carers and personal assistants) and a further 1.5 million in the NHS (August 2025).

Planning Information

For this engagement, DHSC will be holding three roundtable discussions, scheduled for: • Tuesday 24 February 2026, 10am-12pm • Wednesday 25 February 2026, 11am-1pm • Thursday 26 February 2026, 1pm-3pm The roundtables will discuss: • the current status and problems with fit testing within the health and adult social care sector, • the solutions that exist within industry or elsewhere to effectively fit test, and • the potential development of a technological solution, such as a solution involving digital or AI tools, to improve access to fit testing within health and social care. DHSC is keen to hear your ideas and feedback, particularly on the feasibility of innovative solutions, the practicalities, and the potential for procuring services/products. We want this to be an open discussion, allowing you to tell us what the potential solutions are. Please register your interest for a roundtable using this form: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=MIwnYaiRMUyMH-9N6Jc6HOQJJ-YaKaRHkRg1bw3qXlZUQldUQjJWNUhFNTM3VTJaSEw0VklTQTgxMS4u The deadline to register interest is 11:59 pm on Tuesday 17 February 2026. DHSC welcomes interest from: • Adult social care providers • NHS organisations (primary, secondary, community, and social care) • Local authorities • Manufacturers or sole distributors of respirators, especially FFP3 masks • Manufacturers or sole distributors of quantitative fit testing machines • Manufacturers or sole distributors of qualitative fit testing kits • Fit testing providers, trainers, or individual fit testers • Relevant industry bodies and trade associations • Regulatory or accreditation bodies • Other users of respirators and fit testing services • Solution designers (including digital/AI innovators) DHSC may adjust the number or timing of roundtables depending on demand. If interest exceeds capacity (25 participants per roundtable), DHSC may not be able to invite all eligible stakeholders. In this case, DHSC will select roundtable participants based on the below criteria: • Ensuring a balanced mix of stakeholder groups for each roundtable • Ensuring a balanced representation across regions. Alongside this, all stakeholders are encouraged to complete an accompanying survey. All stakeholders are invited to complete this survey, regardless of whether they are attending a roundtable. All individual responses will be kept confidential within DHSC and used solely to gather insights on challenges and potential solutions in fit-testing capacity. Only aggregated and anonymised insights may be shared wider. Complete the survey here: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=MIwnYaiRMUyMH-9N6Jc6HD5FeWMrqfNMlI-J0y-poM1UM0k4NVIzMExSMFo2NzFPNk1PS0FXUVRTOS4u Survey deadline: 11:59 pm, Monday 2 March 2026 (This engagement is neither a procurement exercise nor a call for competition. DHSC does not commit to any specific action at this stage. The roundtables and survey are for information gathering only. Further engagement may follow as required.) For any questions about this opportunity, please contact fit-testing@dhsc.gov.uk.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-061582
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/009517-2026
Current Stage
Planning
All Stages
Planning

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Not Specified
Procurement Method Details
Not specified
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

18 - Clothing, footwear, luggage articles and accessories

33 - Medical equipments, pharmaceuticals and personal care products

38 - Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses)

48 - Software package and information systems

72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

85 - Health and social work services

CPV Codes

18100000 - Occupational clothing, special workwear and accessories

33141000 - Disposable non-chemical medical consumables and haematological consumables

33190000 - Miscellaneous medical devices and products

38540000 - Machines and apparatus for testing and measuring

48180000 - Medical software package

72212180 - Medical software development services

85000000 - Health and social work services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
3 Feb 20266 days ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
2 Mar 20263 weeks to go
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
3 Feb 2026 - 2 Mar 2026 30 days
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Planning
Lots Status
Planning
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE
Contact Name
Not specified
Contact Email
fit-testing@dhsc.gov.uk
Contact Phone
Not specified

Buyer Location

Locality
LONDON
Postcode
SW1H 0EU
Post Town
South West London
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLI London
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLI3 Inner London - West
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLI35 Westminster and City of London
Delivery Location
Not specified
Local Authority
Westminster
Electoral Ward
St James's
Westminster Constituency
Cities of London and Westminster

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

Download

The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts. 

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