A hospital is procuring equipment, reagents and consumables for nucleic acid sequencing, signalling a step-up in oncology and molecular diagnostics.
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A.O. Sant’Andrea in Rome is moving to expand its genomic capacity with a contract to supply integrated machinery–reagent systems and consumables for nucleic acid sequencing and molecular biology. The plan points to wider adoption of next‑generation sequencing in hospital laboratories for oncology, infection control and translational research.
The contract covers the supply of various machinery‑reagent systems and consumables for nucleic acid sequencing. The notice is concise: it signals a comprehensive package for sequencing and broader molecular biology investigations, but does not specify platforms, volumes or lot structure.
Even without those details, the intent is clear. Hospitals across Europe are strengthening end‑to‑end sequencing workflows that combine instruments, reagents, consumables and service. This supports routine diagnostics and research use, especially in oncology and infectious diseases, where turnaround times, panel breadth and data quality are critical.
Recent procurements show how public providers are structuring these buys around complete workflows:
In January 2022, the ASL of Bari sought an in‑service NGS system for five years, centred on whole exome sequencing and bundled with full‑risk maintenance, reagents, plastic consumables and kits for the Laboratory of Genomic Medicine. The aim was a high‑productivity, flexible platform for coding‑sequence analysis, purchased as an integrated package rather than piecemeal (January 2022).
In October 2022, an Italian hospital in Cuneo divided its NGS expansion into three lots covering a core sequencer, an HLA typing system and tumour mutation analysis, each with associated reagents and consumables over five years. The lots set out significant multi‑year values for base supply with options for renewal and technical extensions, illustrating the scale and longevity of these commitments (October 2022).
In May 2023, a national infectious disease institute in Rome tendered for reagents to prepare libraries across multiple platforms (Ion Torrent S5, Illumina MiSeq, and Genexus), spanning metagenomic, amplicon and whole genome approaches for viral and bacterial agents. Targets included tuberculosis resistance and HIV libraries, reflecting how clinical microbiology has embraced NGS as a complement to PCR and culture (May 2023).
And in August 2024, another Roman hospital sought reagents and instrumentation for molecular investigations using digital PCR and NGS, explicitly focused on oncology and gene panels. This mix underscores the way labs pair targeted sequencing with precise quantification tools to support tumour profiling and minimal disease monitoring (August 2024).
The pattern extends beyond Italy. In Spain, a procurement for the Genetics Unit at Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital broke the workflow into lots covering extraction consumables, panel amplification for oncology and exomes, and sequencing consumables, mirroring the full path from sample to variant call in routine care (February 2024).
One exploratory notice gives a detailed view of what a “machine‑reagent system” tends to entail. In May 2023, ASST Fatebenefratelli Sacco set out a 36‑month in‑service supply for an automated NGS sequencer “with chemistry by synthesis” and a wide range of applications, supported by on‑site and telephone maintenance. The specification listed core workflow tools such as a thermocycler, fluorimeter with reagents, magnetic purification kits, mini‑centrifuges (including 96‑well), magnetic holders, adjustable micropipettes and high‑speed mixers. It also required automatic software for analysis and interpretation of NGS data (May 2023).
The same notice stated minimum performance metrics for the sequencer:
It also enumerated high‑impact clinical kits, including a CE‑IVD kit for HIV‑1 drug resistance and tropism (protease, reverse transcriptase, integrase and V3 loop), kits for HCV and HBV drug resistance and genotyping, a full‑genome SARS‑CoV‑2 kit for variant determination, a panel for respiratory viruses, an open metagenomic kit, and pathogen library preparation starting from ≤10 ng of DNA from varied matrices, with FFPE listed as an optional matrix.
These details underline what many labs now expect: an integrated path from sample preparation to variant analysis, with certified kits for key pathogens and robust informatics for interpretation.
Beyond hardware and wet‑lab kits, buyers are specifying data analysis and regulatory features. An Italian cancer institute’s three‑year reagents tender in October 2023 required design, development and validation of custom multigene panels; automatic raw‑data analysis software with unlimited users; additional licences to support interpretation; a fragment quality analyser; specialist technical support; and the cost of interfacing the analysis software with the laboratory information system. For clonality and minimal residual disease applications, it called for CE‑IVD‑certified systems and compatibility with the Illumina MiSeqDx platform (October 2023).
Similar expectations are emerging elsewhere in Europe. In France, the university hospital in Clermont‑Ferrand is buying NGS sequencing reagents alongside associated bioinformatics services for haematology, cytogenetics, pathology and molecular genetics, showing that data analysis capacity is being procured hand‑in‑hand with bench consumables (February 2025).
The Rome notice comes after a prior information notice from a similarly named institution flagged a 12‑month rental acquisition of an NGS machine‑reagent system under Italy’s procurement code. Short rental terms can enable rapid refresh and budget flexibility, especially when markets are moving fast (November 2023).
Elsewhere in 2025, a large telematic procedure in Foggia covers rental supply of laboratory diagnostic systems and equipment with reagents and consumables across departments, while a regional health authority in Veneto is procuring instruments and consumables for NGS and SNP‑array in seven lots with provisions for execution and maintenance (June 2025; April 2025).
The Rome notice signals intent but leaves key specifics open. Points to track as the process advances include:
Across Europe, a series of recent tenders suggest hospital labs are standardising on comprehensive NGS workflows that pair equipment, certified kits and analysis software. The Rome procurement fits that trajectory, with the potential to broaden access to advanced sequencing in clinical care.
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