---
title: "Microbiology Services"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-05eafc"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-05eafc"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05eafc.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05eafc.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Planning"
buyer: "THE ROYAL MARSDEN NHS FOUNDATION TRUST"
published: "2025-11-28"
---

# Microbiology Services

Buyer: THE ROYAL MARSDEN NHS FOUNDATION TRUST  
Current stage: Planning  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-05eafc

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## Summary

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust has initiated a market engagement exercise to explore alternative operating models for its microbiology services, with the aim to improve service delivery for oncology patients. This involves gathering insights from potential suppliers and is part of the planning stage of procurement. Interested parties need to express their interest and submit their Provider Response Pack by 16 January 2026 through the Atamis portal. The focus is on pathology services located in London, with the exercise being led by Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust, hosting the North West London Procurement Services.

This exercise presents a significant opportunity for businesses offering microbiology services to collaborate with a leading NHS foundation trust that holds substantial influence in central government-related healthcare initiatives. Suitable candidates include both NHS and private sector providers with expertise in microbiology testing, clinical advice, and innovative service delivery. The engagement indicates a promising landscape for growth through sustainable and efficient microbiology service models, especially for SMEs and voluntary/community sector enterprises interested in focusing on oncology patient support, environmental testing, and operational resilience.

## Notice

The Royal Marsden is currently exploring alternative operating models for its microbiology services and is undertaking a market engagement exercise to gather insights from providers. The exercise is designed to be a fact-finding and there is no formal evaluation. Providers are encouraged to propose individual solutions on their approach to service delivery and guidance on how to structure responses is listed in the attached . The objective of the market engagement exercise is to inform decision making on whether to move forward with a formal tender, but this is not a guarantee at this stage. With details of contract start dates provided only as estimates in the event there is a decision to progress to tender. Service Overview Effective microbiology services are essential for the timely diagnosis of infections. For the oncology patient population microbiology screening, advice and guidance on treatment options and oversight of anti-microbial stewardship are also vital in ensuring individual treatments are optimised. Environmental testing provision is also in place to support cellular therapy, radiopharmacy and aseptic services. At the Royal Marsden Hospital the microbiology service consists of two discrete but collaborative functions. A UKAS accredited microbiology laboratory and a clinical microbiology service. The microbiology laboratory is based at our Sutton site, providing microbiology testing for our Chelsea, Sutton and Cavendish Square sites. The laboratory processes approximately 187, 000 samples per year. With approximately 65% of these tests requiring a turn-around time of 24-48 hours for a positive result.

### Planning Information

The questionnaire will run on the Atamis portal: https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome How to access the Questionnaire on the portal: • Suppliers should register on the portal, if not already registered: • To Express an Interest in this market engagement, search and Select contract reference - C404289
As per the above instructions those with expressions of interest are to upload their Provider Response Pack and any additional supporting documents by 16/01/2026.
At this stage, there will be no scheduled market engagement events. However, providers may be contacted to provide clarification on their responses in January 2026. 
Should interested parties have clarification questions in relation to this exercise. Please respond via the portal.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/078059-2025 |
| Notice type | UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Not Specified |
| Procurement method details | Not specified |
| Tender suitability | SME, VCSE |
| Awardee scale | Not specified |
| All stages | Planning |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 28 Nov 2025 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | 1 Jan 2027 |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 1 Jan 2028 - 1 Jan 2031 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £3,080,000 |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Planning |
| Lots status | Planning |
| Awards status | Not specified |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | THE ROYAL MARSDEN NHS FOUNDATION TRUST |
| Additional buyers | CENTRAL LONDON COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE NHS TRUST |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Post town | South West London |
| Postcode | SW3 6JJ |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLI London |
| ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West |
| ITL 3 | TLI35 Westminster and City of London |
| Local authority | Westminster |
| Electoral ward | Marylebone |
| Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster |
| Delivery location | TLI London |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 85 - Health and social work services

### Codes

- 85111800 - Pathology services

## Release History

- 28 Nov 2025 at 12:28 - PlanningUpdate - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/078059-2025
- 28 Nov 2025 at 12:17 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/078050-2025

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/078059-2025
  28th November 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/078050-2025
  28th November 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://health-family.force.com/s/Welcome
- https://www.clch.nhs.uk
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents
- https://www.royalmarsden.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-05eafc. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05eafc.json.