Surge Laboratory Capacity in the event of a Health Emergency

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care acting as part of the Crown through UK Health Security Agency

Publication date 14 August 2026, 12:14pm
Contract location
UKI42 - Tower Hamlets
Awarded supplier(s) RANDOX CLINICAL LABORATORY SERVICES LTD
Total value £331,205,000

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) invites suitably qualified suppliers to participate in a tender exercise for the provision of surge laboratory diagnostic testing capacity to support national responses to future public health emergencies.
UKHSA aims to maintain a scalable ‘surge model’ that supplements its internal laboratory network with externally contracted PCR testing capability. This model ensures that, in the event of a significant public health threat, the UK can rapidly increase testing volumes to support diagnosis, surveillance, outbreak management and wider public health interventions.
Under this procurement, the Supplier will be required to provide Clinical Laboratory Diagnostic Testing Services as part of a Public Health Critical service. The contract will operate under two defined readiness states:
Cold State – the Supplier maintains operational readiness and must be capable of ramping up to Hot State withi

Surge Laboratory Capacity in the event of a Health Emergency