Portable Low-Field MRI System

Description

Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust awarded a contract via a negotiated procedure without prior publication under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 for the provision of a portable low-field (0.064 Tesla) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. The contract also includes associated peripherals, training, support and maintenance services for a period of five (5) years. Lot 1: Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust (the "Trust") awarded a contract via a negotiated procedure without prior publication under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 for the provision of a portable low-field (0.064 Tesla) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. The contract will also include associated peripherals, training, support and maintenance services for a period of five (5) years.<br/><br/>The MRI scanner will be used for the purpose of accelerating and developing local place-based neuroimaging research into the process of assessment and diagnosis of dementia, in which timely access to neuroimaging is frequently a rate-limiting step. The scanner will also be available for researchers addressing other mental health disorders, such as research aligned to the new Kent Complex Psychosis Service and investigation of non-dementia mental illness in older and younger adults.<br/><br/>A key focus will be to aid the development of new AI algorithms in the assessment of structural change in dementia and cognitive decline – to decrease the need for high field MRI brain assessment in specialist centres and avoid the associated restrictive environment.<br/><br/>In order to support the Trust's research objectives, the Trust's required a system which fulfilled the following requirements:<br/><br/>• Approved for commercial sale in the UK (UKCA marked);<br/>• Small and highly portable design in order to fit through doorways and elevators, and to provide ease of manoeuvrability;<br/>• Magnetic configuration to enable researchers to work safely with participants during testing;<br/>• Ability to be powered through standard electrical outlets;<br/>• Low power consumption to reduce running costs;<br/>• Open design to reduce participant anxiety; and<br/>• Controlled through portable user-friendly wireless device (e.g. tablet). Additional information: The Trust considers that the award of the contract without prior publication of a contract notice was permitted by Part 2 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015.<br/><br/>The Trust commenced the procurement process under under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 with the publication of a voluntary ex ante transparency notice (2024/S 000-037433) on 19th November 2024, expressing its intention to award a contract via a negotiated procedure without prior publication.<br/><br/>Prior to the award of contract, the Trust observed a standstill period of at least 10 days following the publication of the voluntary ex ante transparency notice (2024/S 000-037433), beginning with the day after the date on which the notice was published.