---
title: "UHB WMSDE Digital Histology Annotation Solution"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-05856a"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-05856a"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05856a.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05856a.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS BIRMINGHAM NHS FOUNDATION TRUST"
published: "2025-12-01"
---

# UHB WMSDE Digital Histology Annotation Solution

Buyer: UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS BIRMINGHAM NHS FOUNDATION TRUST  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-05856a

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## Summary

The University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust has recently awarded a contract for the "UHB WMSDE Digital Histology Annotation Solution" to Histofy Ltd, marking the completion of the procurement process on 1 December 2025. This award is under the services category within the IT sector, focusing on digital pathology and artificial intelligence, and spans the United Kingdom with services deployed primarily in Birmingham. The procurement followed an open procedure, with the contract's initial phase running from 12 December 2025 to 11 December 2026, having potential renewals extending up to 11 December 2030. The awarded contract has a gross value of GBP 593,460 and a net amount of GBP 494,550, with the procurement process attracting interest from three bidders, ultimately selecting an SME for a bespoke solution relating to medical data innovation.

This tender offers a significant opportunity for businesses specialising in IT consulting, software development, and support services, particularly those focusing on healthcare innovations and data management platforms. Companies with capabilities in AI and semantic annotation will find this contract aligns well with their expertise, especially firms geared towards improving healthcare with technology. As the awarded contract emphasizes the responsible usage of health data within a secure environment, businesses with a background in data security and compliance may see growth opportunities by adopting similar strategies within the NHS infrastructure. This contract encourages SMEs to leverage digital transformation in the healthcare sector, setting a strong precedent for innovation-led growth in the region.

## Notice

The WMSDE, hosted by UHBNHSFT is a data storage and access platform that improves patient care by delivering innovation sooner (West Midlands Secure Data Environment (West Midlands SDE). It is part of the national Data for Research and Development programme and is one of several regional platforms in the NHS Secure Data Environment network (The NHS Research Secure Data Environment Network - NHS England Digital). The WMSDE brings together existing collective knowledge and provide conditions for further innovation to benefit people locally and right across the West Midlands region by helping to understand and improve healthcare. Committed to responsible and ethical use of health data, the WMSDE maintains stringent information governance and ethical frameworks. It operates with the necessary approvals from the Health Research Authority, ensuring compliance with all relevant standards and regulations. Digital pathology whole slide images (WSI) represent a rich source of data that can be harnessed to develop algorithms that assist pathologists in diagnosis, providing critical information for treating a wide range of diseases. In creating these algorithms Computer scientists (CS) require WSI data to be prepared to facilitate their work. A crucial step in this preparation involves defining the pathology present within the slide and pinpointing its location so that it can be cross-referenced with the pixel data used by CS to train and test their algorithms. This process, known as semantic annotation, encompasses various levels of detail, from slide-level labels such as tissue type and disease status (positive or negative) to the identification of specific cell types and even subcellular structures, including organelles or viral inclusions. This document specifies the precise requirements for effective and efficient WSI curation, to be deployed within UHBNHSFT technical infrastructure managed by the West Midlands Secure Data Environment (WMSDE), to support the development of artificial intelligence (AI) based technologies. The Supplier shall be responsible for processing deidentified digital pathology image data and the associated metadata for annotation purposes, utilising the techniques outlined below. The data is to be used exclusively for research and innovation activities. All processing must take place within an approved West Midlands Secure Data infrastructure (WMSDE); under no circumstances shall the data be transferred, stored, or processed outside of the intended requirements set out.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

Renewal: The Contracting Authority proposes to enter into Contract(s) for a maximum period of 5 years with the successful Tenderer(s). The initial contract term shall be 1 year with the potential for four 12 month Contract extension periods by election of the Contracting Authority, on such notice and for such periods as is specified by the Contract.

### Planning Information

Pre-Market was already conducted under PCR 15 and was concluded on 31st March 2025
PIN Details:
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/006996-2025
2025/S 000-006996

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/078659-2025 |
| Notice type | UK6 - Contract Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Open procedure |
| Tender suitability | SME |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Planning, Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 1 Dec 2025 |
| Submission deadline | 24 Sep 2025 |
| Future notice date | 27 Aug 2025 |
| Award date | 1 Dec 2025 |
| Contract period | 12 Dec 2025 - 11 Dec 2026 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £500,000 |
| Lots value | £500,000 |
| Awards value | £494,550 |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Pending |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS BIRMINGHAM NHS FOUNDATION TRUST |
| Locality | BIRMINGHAM |
| Post town | Birmingham |
| Postcode | B15 2WB |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLG West Midlands (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLG3 West Midlands |
| ITL 3 | TLG31 Birmingham |
| Local authority | Birmingham |
| Electoral ward | Edgbaston |
| Westminster constituency | Birmingham Edgbaston |
| Delivery location | TLG West Midlands (England), TLG31 Birmingham |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | HISTOFY |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 48 - Software package and information systems
- 72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

### Codes

- 48000000 - Software package and information systems
- 72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

## Release History

- 1 Dec 2025 at 17:09 - Award - UK6 - Contract Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/078659-2025
- 29 Aug 2025 at 14:53 - Tender - UK4 - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/052564-2025
- 11 Aug 2025 at 15:30 - PlanningUpdate - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/047757-2025
- 11 Aug 2025 at 15:05 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/047740-2025

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/078659-2025
  1st December 2025 - Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/052564-2025
  29th August 2025 - Tender notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/047757-2025
  11th August 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/047740-2025
  11th August 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome
- https://health-family.force.com/s/WelcomePleasesearch'C385309',andthenclick'RegisterInterest'.Onceregistered,pleasenavigatetothehomepageandclick'MyProposalsandQuotes'.
- https://histofy.ai
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/006996-2025
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents
- https://www.uhb.nhs.uk/

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-05856a. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05856a.json.