Official UK procurement notice
Contract for the Supply, delivery, commission, installation, consumables, & maintenance of a Femtosecond Laser Workstation
Authority: Queen's University Belfast (Education)
Re-procurement planned260027 Supply, delivery, commission, installation, consumables, & maintenance of a Femtosecond Laser Workstation for applications in metals · tender expected
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre (AMIC), led by Queen's University Belfast, is key to an exciting future for manufacturing in Northern Ireland, as an industry-led, open-access manufacturing and engineering innovation centre with state-of-the-art facilities and an expert engineering team, underpinned by academic excellence.
AMIC is expanding its core capabilities in Digital Factory, Smart Design, Sustainable Polymers and Composites Nanotechnology and Photonics. With a growing team of engineers and technologists (currently 50 strong) and building upon a track-record of collaboration with manufacturers it will deliver industry 4.0 solutions for industry. Supported through a £98M investment via Belfast Region City Deal, a 10,000m2 Factory of the Future facility will open at Global Point Newtownabbey in early 2026. The equipment being purchased is critical to the organisational strategy.
As part of this project Queen’s University Belfast wish to procure a Femtosecond Laser Workstation.
CPV: Lasers
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£750,000
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published award criteria (2)
- Price: Full details of the award criteria and weightings are contained within the tender response pack. Mandatory Technical Requirements, Desirable Technical Requirements, Support Services, Sustainable Procurement, Extended Warranty & Price
- Quality: Full details of the award criteria and weightings are contained within the tender response pack. Mandatory Technical Requirements, Desirable Technical Requirements, Support Services, Sustainable Procurement, Extended Warranty & Price
- Price carries 40 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 4 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Goods
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA, CPTPP)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 10 Dec 2025, 09:32 GMT
- Last source update
- 17 Aug 2026, 09:54 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 30 May 2026
- Authority reference
250294- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-029673- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05f267Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 30 Apr 2026, 16:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 27 Apr 2026, 16:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Timeline
10 Dec 2025 → 17 Aug 2026 · 11 dates- Planning notice published316 days ago10 Dec 2025, 09:32 GMT
- Market engagement275 days ago19 Jan 2026, 23:59 GMT
AMIC is expanding its core capabilities in Digital Factory, Smart Design, Sustainable
Polymers and Composites, Nanotechnology and Photonics.
As part of this project, Queen's University Belfast is seeking expressions of interest from
suppliers as we wish to procure a Femtosecond Laser Workstation.
Queen's staff wish to engage with suppliers prior to procuring this equipment to:
1 - gain a better understanding of what the market can offer and if the market can respond
to a tender meeting our requirements.
2 - identify potential suppliers able to provide the requirement.
3 - understand potential lead times.
4 - gain an understanding of the commercial profile for the requirement.
A pre-market engagement questionnaire has been published here: in-tendhost.co.uk/queensuniversitybelf… ↗ Interested parties are asked to complete and
return this questionnaire via the InTend platform within 40 days of this notice. Queen's
may then contact suppliers for further discussion of the information received in the
questionnaire. Queen's do not guarantee that they will speak to every supplier who
submits a return.
Participation in the pre-market engagement exercise is not a pre-requisite to participation
in any future tender exercise, however, the information provided may be used to inform
decisions around the tender exercise. Queen's welcome all participation in this Pre Market
engagement exercise.
This Pre Market Engagement exercise is not a call for competition and does not commit
Queen's to proceed with a formal procurement. Queen's is not obligated to adopt supplier
feedback into the process.
Please note that Queen's University is closed 23 December 2025 to 1 January 2026 inclusive.
Any queries received during this time will be answered when the University re-opens.
- Next notice expected244 days ago19 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Tender notice published205 days ago31 Mar 2026, 13:42 BST
- Clarification questions by178 days ago27 Apr 2026, 16:00 BST
- Submission deadline175 days ago30 Apr 2026, 16:00 BST
- Award decision expected by144 days ago30 May 2026, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts115 days ago29 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST
- Assessment summaries sent79 days ago4 Aug 2026, 00:00 BST
- Standstill ends69 days ago13 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
- Latest notice published66 days ago17 Aug 2026, 09:54 BST
Notice history
14 events · 7 releases on Find a Tender · since 10 Dec 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published10 Dec 2025, 09:32 GMTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published11 Dec 2025, 09:30 GMTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published19 Dec 2025, 11:15 GMTUK2
- Tender notice published31 Mar 2026, 13:42 BSTUK4
- Published value updated31 Mar 2026, 13:42 BST
- Status changed to active31 Mar 2026, 13:42 BST
- Procurement method changed31 Mar 2026, 13:42 BST
- Deadline published: 30 Apr 2026, 16:00 BST31 Mar 2026, 13:42 BST
- Tender notice published31 Mar 2026, 15:38 BSTUK4
- Published value published: £750,00031 Mar 2026, 15:38 BST
- Contract award notice published4 Aug 2026, 14:55 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete4 Aug 2026, 14:55 BST
- Contract signature expected13 Aug 2026, 23:59 BSTscheduled
- Contract details notice published17 Aug 2026, 09:54 BSTUK7
Published amendments (3)
Please note the link to where you will find details of this tender had been broken and has now been fixed.
https://in-tendhost.co.uk/queensuniversitybelfast/aspx/Home The link to the tender platform has been corrected, please use the above link to access and return the survey.
Updated with the tender value
Routine re-releases (7)
- 2026-03: 1 release · 31 Mar 2026
- 2025-12: 3 releases · 10 Dec 2025, 19 Dec 2025
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| OXFORD LASERS LIMITEDSMEContract for the supply, delivery, commission, installation, consumables, & maintenance of a Femtosecond Laser Workstation for applications in glass substrates.20 Aug 2026 – 20 Aug 2027 · up to 20 Aug 2032Extensions: Options to extend the contract beyond this period for a further period of up to 5 years or the end of useful life of the equipment. · Options: Options to extend the contract beyond this period for a further period of up to 5 years or the end of useful life of the equipment. | £712,184 | 4 Aug 2026 | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract for the supply, delivery, commission, installation, consumables, & maintenance of a Femtosecond Laser Workstation for applications in glass substrates. · OXFORD LASERS LIMITEDSME
- Signed
- 14 Aug 2026
- Value
- £712,184
- Period
- 20 Aug 2026 – 20 Aug 2027 · up to 20 Aug 2032 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- Options to extend the contract beyond this period for a further period of up to 5 years or the end of useful life of the equipment.
- Options
- Options to extend the contract beyond this period for a further period of up to 5 years or the end of useful life of the equipment.
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4final-stage tenders | 4 | 0 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- Oxford Lasers LtdAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (7)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender