Provision of Drug Testing Products and Laboratory Services

The Ministry of Justice is looking for suitable providers to supply a range of drug detection tests, consumables and associated laboratory services to support its current and future requirements during the life of the contract/s. The full scope of the provision and the possible breakdown into Lots has yet to be defined. High levels of crime are linked to substance misuse and substance misuse is a major barrier in the Ministry's efforts to rehabilitate people in prison and managed by probation services in the community. The misuse of drugs in prison also creates a difficult and dangerous environment and often places a considerable pressure on people in custody and their families. Whilst offenders are in custody or are under statutory supervision in the community, we have an opportunity to identify individuals early in the system who are in need of treatment and improving access to treatment. Drug testing methods are well established and provide quantitative, rather than anecdotal evidence of the prevalence of drug misuse. In addition to this, drug testing can be used in support of security measures in prisons, to identify and signpost into drug treatment, monitor treatment compliance and act as an incentive to engage in treatment and drug free living. Drug testing in prisons and in the community needs to continue to develop to be responsive to the changing patterns of drug misuse including the misuse of prescribed and pharmacy medication, and to the dynamic market in psychoactive substances. We will therefore commence a re-compete to procure a drug testing provision that will support the MoJ to identify and respond to changes in patterns of drugs misuse by people in custody and in the community through current and future innovative solutions. In addition, we need the new provision to deliver the new drug testing framework and any new drug methodology through the life of the contract. We are looking in custody and the community at point of contact testing and confirmatory laboratory testing. We are currently using oral fluid matrices in the community and urine in custody.

Additional information: The Authority will be holding an open market engagement event at Southern House, Wellesley Grove, Croydon CR0 1XG, on 13th December 2018 starting at 12:30pm. This will be an opportunity for us to: a) provide more detail on the project and our requirements; b) answer questions within an open forum; c) assess the capability and capacity of the market; d) evaluate our thoughts around procurement approaches; e) establish supplier engagement that is meaningful for all parties. The session will feature a presentation with open Q&A followed by a further opportunity for 1-2-1 meetings with suppliers on 18th December at the same location. Suppliers wishing to participate should email [email protected] by 12 noon on Friday 7th December.