Our Future Health is the UK’s largest ever health research programme. It is designed to help people live healthier lives for longer through the discovery and testing of more effective approaches to prevention, earlier detection and treatment of diseases.
Our Future Health aims to recruit up to five million adults from across the UK to take part. Participants will be asked to provide information about their health and lifestyles and small samples of their blood and/or saliva. Further background information is provided below.
In order to achieve its aim, Our Future Health needs to contract for services to process the samples collected and to provide long term storage and access solutions. We particularly wish to draw the attention of Northern Ireland-based providers to Lot 1D (Receipt and processing of samples). Further details are provided below.
The scope of the procurement is processing of various types of the 5 million biological samples including saliva and blood (such as but not limited to EDTA, PST, ctDNA and RNA samples) with the aim to commence from December 2021.
Processing will include fraction separation by centrifugation, aliquoting and long-term storage (-80 degrees ULT) of samples at HTA licenced facility with effective IT systems for tracking, accessing the samples for re-testing over the long term. There may also be a requirement to handle safe disposal of samples at some stage through their lifecycle.
Additionally, the process is expected to isolate DNA from saliva and buffy coat. Isolated DNA will need to adhere to quality and quantity standard for subsequent analysis such as SNP arrays or any other type of genotyping including whole genome sequencing, therefore quantification by UV Absorbance, fluorescence-based method or Electrophoresis and sample normalisation will be required.
Genotyping, including SNP chip, will be an essential requirement of the service and we are seeking to understand the market for these services to determine if it should form a separate procurement Lot.
Samples will be collected across the United Kingdom including Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
The scope of the Procurement does not include the collection or transportation of blood samples to the processing site.
Our Future Health will be the Contracting Authority, Akeso&Co are undertaking the procurement on behalf of Our Future Health.
The current procurement strategy assumes a lotting structure which is provisionally as follows:
Lot 1: receipt and processing of samples
NOTE: Lot 1 with be additionally divided into further Lots:
- Lot 1A – England
- Lot 1B – Scotland
- Lot 1C – Wales
- Lot 1D – Northern Ireland
Lot 2: Genotyping Assay design and Manufacture
Lot 3: Genotyping Service Provision
Lot 4: Sample storage and access management of samples
The commercial basis for the contract is to be determined and we will be seeking feedback on how this can be structured to attract best value solutions to meet the requirement.
We currently anticipate using the open procurement procedure. It is anticipated that the initial term for contract will be 4 years with up to 3 optional annual extension periods.
It is planned that Lot 1D (Receipt and processing of samples) will be awarded to a provider in each UK nation, such that a provider in each nation would manage receipt and processing of samples for participants recruited in that nation.
Please visit https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/008138-2021 for further details of this opportunity.
Our Future Health may change the lotting structure, scope, term of contract and procurement procedure as a result of the market engagement.
Our Future Health would like to undertake pre-marketing engagement activities following this PIN and invites interested parties to contact OFH@akesoco.com if they should like to be considered for involvement.
Background
Our Future Health aims to recruit up to five million adults from across the UK to take part. Participants will be asked to provide information about their health and lifestyles and small samples of their blood and/or saliva.
Permission will be sought to combine the information and samples that participants provide with existing information about them, including their health records. Adding these additional types of information will help to build a more comprehensive picture of health and wellbeing that could be relevant to understanding what changes people's risk of disease.
Combining these multiple sources of health and health-relevant information, including genetic data, will create an incredibly detailed picture that represents the whole of the UK. Researchers will use this information to make new discoveries about human health and diseases.
Our Future Health will use the health information, including genetic data, to calculate disease risk scores for participants, where possible. Based on these risk profiles, it might be possible to better identify individuals who are at higher risk of developing certain diseases. This will provide an opportunity to test the potential of new diagnostic tests or treatments as they are discovered and to see how effective they could be for people at higher risk of certain diseases. This will also mean Our Future Health can facilitate research addressing important questions about the potential uses of new 'genetic risk scores' in health care.
https://ourfuturehealth.org.uk/