Drug Testing Products and Services

The Authority wishes to obtain information from the market in relation to an upcoming procurement for the provision of Drug Testing Products and Services.

The Authority intends to undertake a procurement for two (2) Lots, starting late April/early May 2023, as follows: Lot 1 Drug Testing Laboratory Analysis, Products and Services Lot 2 Drug Testing Point of Care Testing (POCT) Products and Associated Services.

The scope of Lot 1: Drug Testing: Laboratory Analysis Goods, Services and Prevalence Testing covers the laboratory analysis goods and services required to deliver the following HMPPS drug testing programmes: a) Mandatory Drug Testing (MDT) in prisons (urine sampling) b) Drug Testing in APs (urine sampling) c) Drug Testing on Licence (ToL) in probation offices (oral fluid sampling) d) Drug Testing on Drug Rehabilitation Requirements (DRR) or Problem-Solving Courts (PSC) pilot in probation offices (oral fluid sampling) e) Studies into the prevalence of drugs within all prison and probation settings (utilising sampling from programmes (a-d))

Across all drug testing programmes, no personal identifiers can be shared with suppliers, and therefore the supplier must operate a system using anonymised identifiers to enable prison and probation staff to link results to individuals.

It is vital that the Authority can access reliable, high quality customer support and technical advice in relation to all drug testing programmes. This includes acting as an expert witness when required to do so.

The Authority requires access to monthly data returns covering laboratory testing volumes and results for all testing programmes.

The scope of Lot 2: Point of Care Testing Products and Associated Services covers the products required to deliver Voluntary Drug Testing (VDT) in prisons.

The Authority uses oral fluid point of care testing for all VDT. The level of proof required by VDT is based on the "balance of probabilities", and as such the results are not used for evidential purposes. VDT results are used to develop support opportunities, generate risk reviews of individuals and to support decision-making.

To be effective, it is vital that point of care VDT products provide rapid results in an operational environment (e.g. within 20 minutes) in a format that minimises the need for user interpretation. Products must place minimal demands on staff collecting samples and be as non-invasive as possible without compromising accuracy of analysis.

The Authority are keen to use VDT products to test for as broad a range of drugs as possible.

Further detail is provided in this Notice and supplementary information to this notice.

The Authority also intends to hold a market engagement event via MS Teams on Thursday 30th March 2023. Suppliers can register interest by completing a MS Forms survey following the link below.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=KEeHxuZx_kGp4S6MNndq2HeLBZx3isNHpp5atooeqv1UN0o3RVAzMElINDBRS1hQNVdFNEs3UDc1Wi4u

Additional information: The Authority also intends to hold a market engagement event via MS Teams on Thursday 30th March 2023. Suppliers can register interest by completing a MS Forms survey following the link below.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=KEeHxuZx_kGp4S6MNndq2HeLBZx3isNHpp5atooeqv1UN0o3RVAzMElINDBRS1hQNVdFNEs3UDc1Wi4u