CONTRACT NOTICE – NATIONAL

1 Authority Details

1.1

Authority Name and Address

1.2

Address from which documentation may be obtained

As in 1.1

1.3

Completed documents must be returned to:

As in 1.1

2 Contract Details

2.1

Title

Tender for a Replacement Automated Magnetic Cell Separation System

2.2

Description of the goods or services required

The Faculty of Medicine, Health & Life Science at Swansea University is seeking to procure a fully Automated Magnetic Cell Separation System to be used across multiple research groups within the Department of Biomedical Sciences and will play a critical role in supporting high-quality, externally funded research in immunology, reproductive health, cellular metabolism, oncology, neurodegeneration, neuroscience and women’s health.

In order to further investigate initial data on global genomic changes in the nasal mucosa of pregnant women, this Automated Magnetic Cell Separation System will be used for isolating neutrophils from nasal swabs and peripheral blood of pregnant female, non-pregnant female, and male human donors. These cells will undergo downstream functional assays and phenotyping using a range of techniques to determine pregnancy-specific immune adaptations, with the aim for this data to inform understanding around air pollution and/or respiratory virus infection vulnerabilities in pregnant women, with a future goal of impacting public health messaging and vaccine strategies in pregnancy.

The current Automated Magnetic Cell Separation System is a critical component of ongoing research in immunology, cellular metabolism, cancer, women’s health and neurodegeneration amongst others. It is currently used extensively within the Department of Biomedical Sciences within the Medical School by a series of research groups, many of whom rely on the machine on multiple days each week for essential work supporting several externally funded research grants. This System is approximately 10 years old and has become increasingly prone to failure and is nearing obsolescence, so replacing this equipment will immediately restore and futureproof the cell separation capabilities of the many different projects who make use of it. The System enables high-throughput, reproducible magnetic separation of immune cell populations from blood and tissues essential for downstream functional assays and omics analysis.

NOTE: The authority is using eTenderwales to carry out this procurement process. To obtain further information record your interest on Sell2Wales at https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/search/search_switch.aspx?ID=154791

2.3

Notice Coding and Classification

2.4

Total quantity or scope of tender

External funding has been granted from the Higher Education Research Council (HERC) for a fixed maximum budget of GBP 59,511.55 excluding VAT (equipment is VAT exempt due to its medical research usage) which includes all delivery and service contract costs. This investment will support multiple active grants and is essential for both submitted and planned research proposals.

The successful supplier must be able to deliver, install and commission their System within a shared-access laboratory within the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Science, housed in the ILS1 building at the University’s Singleton Campus (map and full address provided in the tender documents). The HERC funding stipulates a delivery deadline of 31st March 2026, so we would like to achieve delivery with appropriate training and SOPs provided to all users, as soon as is practically possible.

3 Conditions for Participation

3.1

Minimum standards and qualification required

This tender is being conducted electronically on etenderwales BravoSolution:

https://etenderwales.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.shtml

where the tender documents are available for download under ITT 119472.

Only completed tender submissions uploaded to this etenderwales BravoSolution website by the tender deadline can be considered.

4 Administrative Information

4.1

Type of Procedure

Single stage

4.2

Reference number attributed to the notice by the contracting authority

SU04(26)

4.3

Time Limits

4.5

Language or languages in which tenders or requests to participate can be drawn up

4.6

Tender Submission Postbox

5 Other Information

5.1

Additional Information

(WA Ref:154791)

The buyer considers that this contract is suitable for consortia bidding.

5.2

Additional Documentation

5.3

Publication date of this notice