National Physical Laboratory

Hampton Road

Teddington

TW11 0LW

UK

Contact person: Nina Heath

E-mail: nina.heath@npl.co.uk

NUTS: UK

Internet address(es)

Main address: www.npl.co.uk

Address of the buyer profile: www.npl.co.uk

II.1.1) Title

II.1.2) Main CPV code

38000000

II.1.3) Type of contract

Supplies

II.1.4) Short description

Comparison of optical frequency standards is essential for verifying that the clocks both locally and remotely at other national metrological institutes all agree to within their quoted uncertainties. These quoted uncertainties can be as low as ~1e-18, and so agreement between multiple clocks all operating at this level is required to verify that uncertainty. Remote clock comparisons at NPL, or between NPL and other European NMIs, are only possible at this uncertainty using optical frequency combs and telecoms optical fibre links to compare and transmit frequencies over long distances.

By using an optical frequency comb with the full flexibility to cover the 500 nm to 2000 nm wavelength range, the infrastructure will be in place to enable any of the likely candidates for an optical representation of the SI second to be compared over a short cross-site fibre link. The optical frequency comb will also require dedicated branches to link with the optical clocks and oscillators already available at NPL, these include the Sr+ at 674 nm, the Sr lattice at 698 nm, the Yb+ clocks at both 871 nm and 934 nm, and an ultrastable laser at 1064 nm.

II.1.6) Information about lots

This contract is divided into lots: No

II.1.7) Total value of the procurement

Value excluding VAT: 510 158.06  GBP

IV.1.1) Type of procedure

Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition

Justification for selected award procedure:

The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the Directive

Explanation

Proposed procurement was very similar to the competitive tender purchase of Frequency Combs previously conducted by T&F/OFM earlier in 2021 and again in 2023, which were purchased to equip state-of-the-art test and evaluation laboratories both in Teddington and in Glasgow.

Because of this, OFM have now installed and commissioned several of these systems and invested a substantial amount of time in developing a full understanding of the system. At the time of the previous procurements, the Menlo system was evaluated to provide the most appropriate solution to the T&F needs by far. By purchasing a similar system from the same supplier, the embedded expertise in this system can be exploited, and subsequently interoperability of systems can be developed.

Based on the specification from the previous tender processes, the systems from other two bidders were found to be the only ones capable of demonstrably meeting the repetition rate tunability and the required flexibility in a turn-key system. None of the alternative suppliers could guarantee or demonstrate the specification at the required level. Menlo systems scored high on demonstrated performance systems integration and service.

Since we have tested the market twice in the past few years with the same outcome, we are confident that Menlo Systems is the only provider that can meet the expected requirements for our purposes.

IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes

IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure

Notice number in the OJ S:

2024/S 000-001905

IV.2.9) Information about termination of call for competition in the form of a prior information notice

The contracting authority will not award any further contracts based on the above prior information notice

Menlo Systems GmbH

Am Klopferspitz 19a, Bayern

Martinsried

82152

DE

NUTS: DE

The contractor is an SME: No

VI.4.1) Review body