Section one: Contracting authority/entity
one.1) Name and addresses
Ministry of Defence
DSTL Porton Down
SALISBURY
SP4 0JQ
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
UKK - South West (England)
Internet address(es)
Main address
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/defence-science-and-technology-laboratory
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Ministry or any other national or federal authority
one.5) Main activity
Defence
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
178,651.90
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 38510000 - Microscopes
two.1.3) Type of contract
Supplies
two.1.4) Short description
Supply of Agilent Cytation automated digital fluorescence/luminescence upright and inverted microscope with incubator and robot arm
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
Lowest offer: £178,651.90 / Highest offer: £178,651.90 taken into consideration
two.2) Description
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 38510000 - Microscopes
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKK - South West (England)
Main site or place of performance
SALISBURY
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
Supply of Agilent Cytation automated digital fluorescence/luminescence upright and inverted microscope with incubator and robot arm
two.2.5) Award criteria
Price
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: No
two.2.13) Information about European Union Funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.1) Type of procedure
Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the cases listed below
- The contract has its object services listed in Annex II B
Explanation:
Negotiated Procedure without Prior Publication subject to Negotiated Procedure without Prior Publication for
Technical Reasons under PCR, Regulation 32(5)(b)
The reasons can be broken down into four areas:
Complexity
All manufacturers have proprietary software to run their machines and analyse resultant images. It is necessary that the intended new system use the same management and image analysis software as our extant system.
This type of equipment is intended to provide high quality images of complex microscopic items and undertake complex image analysis to extract quantitative information. Human interpretation of the image is subjective, and the image analysis software is required to remove subjectivity. The management software components (different from the image analysis components) are required to automate the system to take images without the operator present, including images of the same exact microscopic location in a sample dish and locating the correct plane in which to focus to provide sequential images for the analysis software components.
All components of the software are complex and require both specialist training (2-3 days) to familiarise, and frequent use (on at least a weekly basis) to reinforce, develop and maintain expertise. It is imperative for this reason that the new system be compatible with the existing system, to ensure that users do not have to learn and maintain expertise across two systems. The new system will be placed in a different biological containment environment to the extant system. This provides a further challenge for maintaining expertise across two different systems, as specialist users do not spend equal amounts of time in the two environments.
Scientific rigour
Dstl already operates an Agilent Cytation microscope running Agilent’s proprietary Gen5 software. Multiple fluorescent signals are stimulated with specific wavelength light sources and detected with specific wavelength light sensors that are built into the system. Experiments at Dstl are designed specifically for these stimulation and detection optics, making and using cell lines and reagents that match the specifications of the system. A different system will have different specifications. Where these are similar to those of Agilent, they are likely to be slightly different in terms of wavelengths for stimulation and detection. This will mean a system from a different manufacturer may give a different result. Where the margins between samples are fine, small differences in image data resulting from differences in stimulation and detection optics have the potential to combine with different analysis software to confound the experiments. As the two systems are required to give consistency of data across different biological containment environments, it is a requirement they use the same fluorescence stimulator and detection optics.
Redundancy
The stimulation and detection optics for fluorescence microscopy are user-removable components of the Agilent system. This means that if an optical component in one machine fails, it can be replaced by the user, with a component from the sister machine. This is a significant advantage to Dstl, where experiments in high containment environments are expensive and are often undertaken on a tight schedule. The ability to rapidly (i.e. same day) replace an optical component in a high containment environment with an identical component from a sister machine in the low containment environment will be a significant advantage.
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No
Section five. Award of contract/concession
Contract No
RQ0000022553
Title
Supply of Agilent Cytation automated digital fluorescence/luminescence upright and inverted microscope with incubator and robot arm
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract/concession
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
3 February 2023
five.2.2) Information about tenders
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor/concessionaire
Agilent Technologies LDA UK Limited
Lakeside 5500, Cheadle Royal Business Park
CHEADLE
SK8 3GR
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UKD - North West (England)
The contractor/concessionaire is an SME
No
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot/concession (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot/concession: £178,651.90
five.2.5) Information about subcontracting
The contract/lot/concession is likely to be subcontracted
Section six. Complementary information
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
DSTL Porton Down
SALISBURY
SP4 0JQ
Country
United Kingdom