By Vvon Engineering Team | Published | Updated
Build the recurring budget from actual isotope, staffing, service, QA, monitoring, waste, utility and equipment-continuity requirements.
Nuclear medicine RFQ checklist (TXT)
A nuclear-medicine capital proposal needs an operating budget covering staff, radiopharmaceuticals, maintenance, quality assurance and facilities. Costs can change when initial consumables or warranty cover end, so model the planned service life rather than only the first year.
Actual figures depend on the department, so what follows is the list of lines that have to exist and what drives the size of each. A recurring budget with all of these present, even roughly estimated, is more useful than a precise number for two of them.
Radiopharmaceuticals, kits, staff and maintenance can be major recurring costs, with their ranking determined by the local service. Compare a service contract with other qualified support arrangements, including likely failures, parts, downtime and financial risk. One uncovered repair does not invariably cost more than an annual premium.
Budget source replacement and disposal, approved personal monitoring, instrument QC and calibration at the required intervals, power-protection upkeep, environmental control, software and storage, consumables, waste and regulatory obligations. Include training for new staff and maintenance of the actual building systems. Not every instrument requires annual external calibration, every occasional visitor needs an individual badge, or every therapy facility needs a delay tank.
Rather than a figure, use the drivers, because they are what a finance committee can question sensibly.
Cost drivers include study mix and volume, product supply and wastage, staffing, operating hours, imaging configuration, therapy scope and contractual cover. Activities vary with protocol and patient rather than a simple SPECT-versus-planar rule. Model the actual approved pathway, including CT and waste requirements where relevant.
Model each year using the quoted warranty, service, software, source and component-replacement terms. The first year is not necessarily free of service costs, and no universal year-two formula captures every contract.
The second is treating QA consumables and calibration as optional when money is short. They are the cheapest lines on the list and they are what stands between the department and an inspection finding, a wrong report, or a fault discovered by a patient rather than by a phantom.
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