Issue details

The reasons for the decision are:
The agreement with Manchester Metropolitan University provides for drug use monitoring to keep professionals and the public well-informed and respond to the threat of new, potent, or adulterated drugs.?

The agreement includes a research project to identify changes and emerging issues in the use of substances by Greater Manchester residents and for 120 laboratory tests on samples obtained across Greater Manchester by the police. The entry of potent synthetic opioids into the UK drugs market makes the testing of available samples a critical element in preventing drug related deaths.

The agreement requires that the testing laboratory is able to receive, test, and destroy controlled drugs. The MANDRAKE laboratory at MMU is nationally and internationally affiliated providing data directly to Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Early Warning Advisory (UNODC EWA).

MMU’s facility has a permanent Manchester city-centre based laboratory which is the only fully home office licensed, non-commercial facility in Greater Manchester and is formally embedded into the Greater Manchester Police forensic pathway. No other organisation holds a similar position within either GM or the wider UK.

The requirement to provide testing services alongside research projects means that MMU is considered the only supplier who can met the requirements of the agreement.

Following this extension, the next project will be put to tender to provide assurance that the sole supplier status is valid.