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PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITY

Rental Agreement for a high sensitivity Tandem Mass Spectrometer - High Performance Liquid Chromatography system for analysis of hormones biological fluids.

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST · Contract award notice on Find a Tender

Tender information last checkedLast checked 26 Sept 2026, 20:47.

Opportunity overview

The CUH Blood Sciences Biochemical Genetics Unit is looking to replace a high sensitivity Triple Quadrupole Tandem Mass Spectrometer (TMS) coupled to an ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) system. This system runs 10 methods including newborn blood spot analysis that were developed either in-house or in conjunction with suppliers. The Blood Sciences labs currently have four Sciex triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometers (TMS) linked to Shimadzu or Sciex (Exion) liquid chromatography (HPLC) systems. This includes the system that we are replacing. The combined laboratories currently process around 120,000 samples a year through the four LC-Tandem Mass Spectrometer systems. Results generated from the systems are from technically/clinically validated methods and are used for diagnosis of endocrine and metabolic disorders, as well as for neonatal screening tests. The replacement system must be capable of quantitation of a range of metabolites in human serum, urine and blood spot and therefore must be capable of using Chemoview to quantitate the newborn screening blood spot assays. Some of the analytes are at nmol/L concentrations in human serum e.g. urine matanepherine, so a high sensitivity system is essential. The TMS - HPLC system must have the following critical elements: TMS - The TMS must have multiple modes of operation including multiple reaction monitoring and scan modes. Scan modes must include precursor ion scan, product ion scan, neutral loss scan. - The TMS must be capable of Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionisation (APCI) and electrospray (ESI) ionisation modes with proven use of APCI for clinical hormone analyses. - The TMS must be capable of positive and negative modes. - The TMS must be capable of polarity switching within a sample acquisition run with a minimum settling time of 5msec between polarities. - The TMS must accept a fluid flow rate from 5µL/min to 3000µL/min, without flow splitting. - To allow for future development needs the TMS must have an option to be upgraded to a linear ion trap system that will provide additional scan modes such as MRM3, Enhanced Product Ion Scan. - The TMS must have an integral infusion pump under full control of the system software to allow infusion rates up to 30µL/min to allow compound tuning and for ion suppression testing. - The TMS control software must be compatible with multi-vendor HPLC systems e.g. Shimadzu, Agilent, Waters. - The system must be capable of the self-generation of all gases required for routine use (i.e. no requirement for a gas cylinder in the lab). - A suitable roughing pump must be supplied. This must be an oil-free pump. - Results must be able to be exported in .txt format to allow uploading to our current hospital information system. - Current methods in use in the Biochemical Genetics Unit must be directly transferrable without the need for re-development. HPLC - The HPLC system must have the ability of a dual binary pump arrangement allowing pressures up to 10,000PSI. This setup is to allow online solid phase extraction using 2-position valves. - There must be a minimum of 4 solvent lines per pump with inline degassers. If binary pumps are proposed, there must be 4 solvent lines for each side of the binary pump. The LC must have the ability to switch to different solvent input lines, analytical columns without operator intervention to allow running of multiple assays to be processed consecutively. - The HPLC autosampler must be capable of injecting from 1 to 50µL. - The HPLC autosampler must have at least six positions for plate/vials and must be able to inject from 96 shallow well plates, 96 deep well plates and vials. It must be capable of using these in combination without changing hardware configuration. - The column oven must have an operating temperature range of 5 to 85°C. - The column oven and must be able to accommodate six analytical columns of 25cm length. - The column oven must be able to accommodate and drive 2, 7-port 6-position valves to allow switching between columns and therefore multiplexing of analytical methods. - The system must be able to drive 3 2-position 6-port valves independently to allow sequential running of different methods.

Awarded to

Amounts belong to published awards or contracts. Where several suppliers share one value, it is labelled as shared and is not a supplier-specific allocation.

AB Sciex UK Limited

Matched by number
Published award value
£487.2k
Awarded
20 Jul 2026
Award ID
1
Status
pending
Identifier
GB-COH 07007374
Location
Solihull,, UKG32, B90 8AJ, United Kingdom

Classification

No classification was supplied.

Lots

  • Lot 1Value not stated

Documents and notices

Published notice details

Additional information from the published procurement release. Fields appear only when supplied by the source; check the original notice and tender documents before acting.

Scope, procedure and submissions

Id
ADD/PU/SM/26/16
Status
complete
Procurement Method
direct
Procurement Method Details
Direct award

Legal basis

Id
2023/54
Scheme
UKPGA

Lots and requirements

Entry 1
Id
1
Status
complete

Buyer, suppliers and contacts

Organisation 1
Name
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
Id
GB-NHS-RGT

Identifier

Scheme
GB-NHS
Id
RGT

Additional Identifiers

Entry 1
Scheme
GB-PPON
Id
PPCP-8863-HDGN

Address

Street Address
Hills Rd
Locality
Cambridge
Postal Code
CB2 0QQ
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Region
UKH12

Contact

Roles

buyer

Details

Classifications

Entry 1
Scheme
UK_CA_TYPE
Id
publicAuthorityCentralGovernment
Description
Public authority - central government
Organisation 2
Name
AB Sciex UK Limited
Id
GB-COH-07007374

Identifier

Scheme
GB-COH
Id
07007374

Address

Street Address
Unit 4 Blythe Valley Innovation Centre, Central Boulevard, Blythe Valley Business Park
Locality
Solihull,
Postal Code
B90 8AJ
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Region
UKG32

Contact

Roles

supplier

Details

Scale
large
Vcse
No
Public Service Mission Organization
No
Sheltered Workshop
No

Award information

Award 1
Id
1
Title
Rental Agreement for a high sensitivity Tandem Mass Spectrometer - High Performance Liquid Chromatography system for analysis of hormones biological fluids.
Status
pending
Date
21 Jul 2026, 00:00
Main Procurement Category
goods
Above Threshold
Yes

Items

Item 1
Id
1
Related Lot
1

Additional Classifications

Entry 1
Scheme
CPV
Id
33696500
Description
Laboratory reagents

Delivery locations

Entry 1
Region
UKH12
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom

Value

Including VAT
584,640
Amount
487,200
Currency
GBP

Suppliers

Supplier 1
Id
GB-COH-07007374
Name
AB Sciex UK Limited

Standstill Period

Ends
31 Jul 2026, 23:59

Contract period

Starts
24 Aug 2026, 00:00
Ends
23 Aug 2033, 23:59

Related lots

1

Documents

Entry 1
Id
068920-2026
Document Type
awardNotice
Notice Type
UK6
Description
Contract award notice on Find a Tender
Published
22 Jul 2026, 06:47
Format
text/html

Milestones

Entry 1
Id
1
Type
futureSignatureDate
Due
5 Aug 2026, 23:59
Status
scheduled

Recorded locations

  • Buyer location · Cambridge · UKH12 · CB2 0QQ · United Kingdom

Notice and amendment history

2 published notice versions reviewed by ProcuraAxis.

2 VERSIONS
  1. 068918-2026Transparency notice on Find a Tender ·
  2. 068920-2026Contract award notice on Find a Tender ·