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All organizations are subject to risk and uncertainty. Adverse events may disrupt normal organizational activity and may even cause complete failure of business operations. Biorepositories are also at risk and there have been instances where multiple samples or entire collections have been destroyed. Biobank guidelines accordingly recommend the establishment of contingency plans to reduce risk to an acceptable level. In this review article, we will use general theory on risk management and illustrate how such principles can be used to establish a practical crisis management plan for any biobank organization.

B iospecimens and data are increasingly needed to support biomedical research and clinical care. Biobanks are created to support the ready access to fit-for-purpose biospecimens and data for drug target identification, drug discovery and development, and are vital in efforts focused on precision medicine. To support the increasing need for quality biospecimens and data, the infrastructure of biobanking must be strong and sustainable. Each biobank should be supported with a business model that is deliberately and methodically planned in advance of the collection, processing, storage and usage of the biospecimens and data. The business plan should address ways to achieve sustainability in operations, social acceptance, as well as financial support over the intended duration of the repository. Financial sustainability may be achieved through various means including institutional support, shortand long-term grants, cost recovery, and sales of services. Biopreservation and Biobanking asked several biobanking professionals their views on financial sustainability and the means to achieve it as addressed in their business plan.

Biobank sustainability is a multi-faceted concept that many biobanks are wrestling with to justify their continued existence. After 10 years of operation, the Wales Cancer Bank is faced with a potential reduction in grant funding that will result in the need for a restructured approach to patient consenting, sample collection, and sample issue. A review is currently in progress, using evidence from the last 12 months, to inform the decisions that will be taken at the end of 2014 regarding the biobank's future. The information presented details the areas under consideration for revision with the perceived costs and benefits associated with the amendment. Not all outcomes are currently known, and some decisions will be made once the level of future funding is confirmed. The process of assessment has proved to be a valuable exercise and has highlighted the need for biobanks to regularly evaluate strategic principles and operating procedures using sustainability as a denominator.