Laboratory IT Systems

UKB (www.ukbiobank.ac.uk) is a company limited by guarantee and a registered UK charity established by its two founding funders: the Medical Research Council and Wellcome. It is a large-scale biomedical database and research resource containing genetic, lifestyle and health information from half a million UK Participants. UKB is globally accessible to approved researchers undertaking health-related research that is in the public interest.

UKB is inviting requests to participate in its procurement for the design and implementation of the Systems, data migration from existing legacy systems, testing, commissioning, training, hypercare support and, if required by UKB, the provision of consultancy services in relation to the Systems on an ad hoc basis. UKB envisages that its requirements can be met and the Systems can be delivered through a combination of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software packages managed through configuration, and complemented by bespoke services. UKB requires a licence and standard support services for any COTS software. This will either be included as part of the contract with the successful tenderer or through an additional contract between UKB and the COTS vendor.

The Systems will be required to support UKB laboratory operations when they move to a new purpose-built facility in the City of Manchester in the North West of England in 2026, UKB expects to take ownership for ongoing delivery of the Systems on completion of the phased implementation and will require the Service Provider to collaborate closely with the UKB technical team to ensure a successful implementation and hand-over. The current Laboratory Information Management System data stored in the legacy systems is approximately 110GB across over 160 tables. The Systems must be capable of managing 30 million samples in the near term and have the capacity to expand to accommodate 60 million within the next 15 years.

NOTE: In order to request to participate in this contract opportunity, interested organisations must complete and submit a response to UKB's selection questionnaire by the deadline stated in Section IV.2.2. UKB will then undertake a shortlisting process and shortlist successful candidates, as set out in Section II.2.9, to be invited to the tender stage of the procurement process. UKB reserves the right to invite the fourth ranked candidate through to the tender stage of the procurement if its score at the selection questionnaire stage is within 5% of the third ranked candidate. It is not envisaged that there will be any down-selection of tenderers during the tender stage of the procurement although UKB reserves the right to do so. Details of the envisaged tender stage process is set out in a draft Invitation to Negotiate provided as part of the procurement documents.

To access the procurement documents, please visit the myTenders Web Site at https://www.mytenders.co.uk/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=233323.