Portable Low-Field MRI System

Location

Maidstone

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.

Total Quantity or Scope

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.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.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.In order to support the Trust's research objectives, the Trust's required a system which fulfilled the following requirements:• Approved for commercial sale in the UK (UKCA marked);• Small and highly portable design in order to fit through doorways and elevators, and to provide ease of manoeuvrability;• Magnetic configuration to enable researchers to work safely with participants during testing;• Ability to be powered through standard electrical outlets;• Low power consumption to reduce running costs;• Open design to reduce participant anxiety; and• Controlled through portable user-friendly wireless device (e.g. tablet).

Award Detail

Award Criteria

CPV Codes

• 33113000 - Magnetic resonance imaging equipment
• 33113100 - Magnetic resonance scanners

Indicators

• Award on basis of price and quality.

Legal Justification

It was considered that the award of the contract following a negotiated procedure without prior publication was lawful in accordance with regulation(s) 32(5)(a) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015, whereby the portable low-field MRI system was "manufactured purely for the purpose of research, experimentation, study or development, and shall not include quantity production to establish commercial viability or to recover research and development costs".The portable low-field 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.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. The portable low field scanner will therefore be used in clinical research in alignment with current NHS England priorities, including reducing time to diagnosis and increasing dementia diagnosis rates, and to the priorities of clinical services both nationwide and internationally.The portable low field MRI scanner has previously been used for Clinical Research in the NHS, gaining Health Research Authority (HRA) and UK Ethics approvals:• 12/LO/1247 – West London & GTAC Research Ethics Committee,• 19/LO/1384 – City & East Research Ethics Committee.It is also considered that the award of the contract following a negotiated procedure without prior publication is lawful in accordance with regulation(s) 32(2)(a)(ii) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015, whereby "competition is absent for technical reasons".Following market research, the Trust is confident the required product and associated services are only capable of being provided by a single supplier. The Trust’s guiding principles being the requirement for a portable low field MRI system most suitable for the acceleration and development of local place-based neuroimaging clinical research. This includes:• Approved for commercial sale in the UK (UKCA marked);• Small and highly portable design in order to fit through doorways and elevators, and to provide ease of manoeuvrability;• Magnetic configuration to enable researchers to work safely with participants during testing;• Ability to be powered through standard electrical outlets;• Low power consumption to reduce running costs;• Open design to reduce participant anxiety; and• Controlled through portable user-friendly wireless device (e.g. tablet).It was the Trust’s belief that Xiel Ltd was the exclusive UK distributer of the Hyperfine® Portable MR Imaging® System, and was therefore the only economic operator capable of supplying an existing product which fulfilled the above requirements in order to support the Trust’s objectives for undertaking local place-based neuroimaging clinical research, and which can be delivered within the Trust's required timescales.

Other 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.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.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.