---
title: "Surge Capacity for FFP3 Fit Testing"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-06aa0b"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06aa0b"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06aa0b.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06aa0b.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Planning"
buyer: "DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE"
published: "2026-06-01"
---

# Surge Capacity for FFP3 Fit Testing

Buyer: DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE  
Current stage: Planning  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-06aa0b

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## Summary

The Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC) has initiated a planning phase for a procurement process titled "Surge Capacity for FFP3 Fit Testing". It is aimed at the health and social work services industry within the United Kingdom, particularly focusing on expanding current fit-testing capacity during a pandemic scenario. This market engagement process is not a call for competition or procurement exercise but rather an information gathering stage. Key dates include the published notice date of 1st June 2026 and a survey deadline on 23rd June 2026. Situated in London, the DHSC is calling for participation to assist in preparing effective surge plans for pandemic preparedness, which is crucial for ensuring rapid fit testing availability for FFP3 respirators.

This tender provides significant opportunities for businesses involved in fit testing and the provision of related training services. Organisations specialising in health and occupational safety equipment, such as those manufacturing or supplying testing and measuring apparatus, would be well-suited to participate and provide essential feedback. The engagement targets businesses capable of scaling operations during surges, thereby supporting the DHSC in developing robust strategic responses to pandemics. Involvement in this planning phase could position suppliers to meet future demand peaks, thereby fostering business growth in the health and safety sector.

## Notice

The 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] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pandemic-preparedness-strategy-building-our-capabilities [2] https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/documents/module-3-full-report/ 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: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=MIwnYaiRMUyMH-9N6Jc6HD5FeWMrqfNMlI-J0y-poM1UOTFJT0pEWlNEVDZPUlhWVDRORVM5MVdZOC4u 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.

### Planning Information

Complete the survey here: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=MIwnYaiRMUyMH-9N6Jc6HD5FeWMrqfNMlI-J0y-poM1UOTFJT0pEWlNEVDZPUlhWVDRORVM5MVdZOC4u
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” (https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/009517-2026?origin=SearchResults&p=1), 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:
fit-testing@dhsc.gov.uk

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/051275-2026 |
| 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 |
| All stages | Planning |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 1 Jun 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | 23 Jun 2026 |
| Award date | Not specified |
| Contract period | 31 May 2026 - 23 Jun 2026 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| 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 | DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Post town | South West London |
| Postcode | SW1H 0EU |
| 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 | St James's |
| Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 18 - Clothing, footwear, luggage articles and accessories
- 38 - Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses)
- 85 - Health and social work services

### Codes

- 18100000 - Occupational clothing, special workwear and accessories
- 38540000 - Machines and apparatus for testing and measuring
- 85000000 - Health and social work services

## Release History

- 1 Jun 2026 at 10:19 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/051275-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/051275-2026
  1st June 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/documents/module-3-full-report/
- https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=MIwnYaiRMUyMH-9N6Jc6HD5FeWMrqfNMlI-J0y-poM1UOTFJT0pEWlNEVDZPUlhWVDRORVM5MVdZOC4u
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/009517-2026?origin=SearchResults&p=1
- https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care
- https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pandemic-preparedness-strategy-building-our-capabilities
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents

## 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-06aa0b. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06aa0b.json.