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Procurement of the Femtosecond Spitfire ACE laser system

Lasers
Specialist optical instruments
West Midlands (UKG)
Published value
Not published
Submission deadline Not published
Lots published1
Procurement Executive Summary
AI & Search Synopsis
Generated from official OCDS record
Tenderline Synopsis: THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM: "Procurement of the Femtosecond Spitfire ACE laser system". Published status: complete. Published value: Value not published. 1 published lot. Submission deadline not published. See the official notice for participation instructions.
Contracting AuthorityTHE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAMScope & CategoriesNot publishedSubmission Window
complete
No deadline published
Submission GatewayDirect notice routeLegal Basis & RegimeStandard procurementEstimated Value (exc. VAT)Not published
Bidder Intelligence · Authority Profile: THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
Market Analytics
View Authority Profile →
Derived from OCDS awards & bid statistics
Published history for THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM. These figures describe retained records, not a forecast of bids or a measure of buyer bias.
Published-to-award variance
Not availableInsufficient comparable data
Requires at least 5 comparable procedures
Competition Density
3.4Bids / Report
48.4% of reports have one bid
Supplier ConcentrationNo estimate
Insufficient attributable awardsNo concentration estimate available
Payment Terms
Check noticePublished terms
Payment obligations depend on the applicable regime and contract. Consult the official documents.
Coverage: 152 active published awards; 31 bid reports (which may be per lot). Supplier values exclude multi-supplier awards, frameworks and DPS, and use GBP only. They are published award values, not payments. Published-to-award variance compares single-lot, single-award, single-supplier GBP procedures with explicitly non-framework/non-DPS status; increases remain in the average. Unpublished data stays unknown. Awarded suppliers are winners, not all bidders.
Procedure terms
Contracting AuthorityTHE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
Procedure methodNot published
Procurement categoryNot published
Statuscomplete
Framework / DPSNot published
CompetitionNot published
Above thresholdNot published
Legal basisNot published
Tender period startsNot published
Clarification deadlineNot published
Electronic submissionNot published
Submission languagesNot published
Published28 Apr 2023, 14:23 BST
Last source update28 Apr 2023, 14:23 BST
Recurring procurementNot published
ClassificationLasers, Specialist optical instruments
Delivery area
West Midlands (UKG)
OCIDocds-h6vhtk-03c52a
What is being bought
Professor Vas Stavros and his group recently (January 2023) relocated from the University of Warwick to the University of Birmingham. The femtosecond laser system that is sought (as part of Vas Stavros's start-up package) is from a single supplier: MKS Newport Spectra-Physics. The Femtosecond Spitfire ACE laser system (termed henceforth Spitfire ACE) will replace a now obsolete MKS Newport Spectra-Physics Spitfire Pro XP, currently housed in the Stavros Lab at the University of Warwick. This is a like-for-like replacement with superior output stability. The Spitfire ACE delivers 3) fractions, three of these fractions can be used to optically pump the OPAs that will be transferred from the University of Warwick. The tunability in wavelength output from the OPAs will enable multiple different measurements to be carried out concurrently.
What changed
From the official release history
  1. Status changed to complete
    28 Apr 2023, 14:23 BST
  2. Official notice release published
    28 Apr 2023, 14:23 BST
  3. Buyer information updated
    28 Apr 2023, 14:23 BST
Lots and requirements (1)
Published by the contracting authority
  • Lot 1 · #1
    Individual lot title not published
    Status not published
    Published valueNot published
    The Spitfire ACE will dovetail three existing optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs, essentially smaller lasers with unrivalled wavelength tunability) that will be transferred from the University of Warwick to the University of Birmingham. These OPAs are MKS Newport Spectra-Physics supplied OPAs and thus are set up to only be compatible with the Spitfire ACE. For this reason, we are seeking a single source supplier for the like-for-like replacement (vide supra). Spectra-Physics have done a lot of system work with the Spitfire and OPA together to be able to supply a system with stable output. The result of this work was ACE (Automated Compressor Enhancement). No other manufacturer has this capability. Whilst the OPAs can be made to work with amplifiers from other manufacturers, drifts in OPA output are not compensated for. The OPAs that Prof. Stavros has have been operated with an amplifier with Automated Compressor Enhancement and for long timescale experiments such as his, this drift compensation is essential. Therefore, the only company that would be able to supply an instrument to meet the University's requirements, particularly the drift compensation (Automated Compressor Enhancement), is Spectra-Physics.
    Contract periodNot published
    EligibilityNot published
    Options / renewalNot published
Timeline
  1. Procedure published
    28 Apr 2023, 14:23 BST
  2. Award active
    Not published · Not published
  3. Contract active
    Signed 28 Apr 2023, 00:00 BST · Not published
Commercial outcome and competition
Awards
NEWPORT SPECTRA-PHYSICS LIMITED
Not published · Not published · active
Contracts
Procurement of the Femtosecond Spitfire ACE laser system
Not published · signed 28 Apr 2023, 00:00 BST · active
Bid statistics
highestValidBidValue: 535846
lowestValidBidValue: 1
highestValidBidValue: 535846 (lot 1)
lowestValidBidValue: 1 (lot 1)
Buyer and organisations in this procedure

THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM

Contracting authority GB-COH-RC000645
View buyer profile

  • THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
    buyer

    GB-COH: RC000645
    EDGBASTON, BIRMINGHAM, UKG31, B15 2TT
    K.Samsonik@bham.ac.uk
    +44 1214146899

  • NEWPORT SPECTRA-PHYSICS LIMITED
    supplier

    GB-COH: 02096856
    Cheshire, UKD

  • UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
    reviewBody

    BIRMINGHAM, B15 2TT
Documents (0)
Official links; attachments are not copied
No data
No linked documents are published
Related procedures (0)
No data
No related procedures published
Planning and rationale
Planning budgetNot published
No-engagement rationaleNot published
Procedure rationaleThe Spitfire ACE will dovetail three existing optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs, essentially smaller lasers with unrivalled wavelength tunability) that will be transferred from the University of Warwick to the University of Birmingham. These OPAs are MKS Newport Spectra-Physics supplied OPAs and thus are set up to only be compatible with the Spitfire ACE. For this reason, we are seeking a single source supplier for the like-for-like replacement (vide supra). Spectra-Physics have done a lot of system work with the Spitfire and OPA together to be able to supply a system with stable output. The result of this work was ACE (Automated Compressor Enhancement). No other manufacturer has this capability. Whilst the OPAs can be made to work with amplifiers from other manufacturers, drifts in OPA output are not compensated for. The OPAs that Prof. Stavros has have been operated with an amplifier with Automated Compressor Enhancement and for long timescale experiments such as his, this drift compensation is essential. Therefore, the only company that would be able to supply an instrument to meet the University's requirements, particularly the drift compensation (Automated Compressor Enhancement), is Spectra-Physics.