Provision of a Research Collaboration Project to investigate highly antimicrobial inorganic coatings for infection control

The University wishes to invite tenders to supply and work with The University in a Research Collaboration Project. The subject of the Project is the evaluation of technologies for the production of adherent, hard, inorganic antimicrobial coatings. The Research Collaboration Project will be guided by a Research Collaboration Agreement. The Research Collaboration Agreement will be added to the University of the Highlands and Islands' Terms and Conditions of Contract as an Addendum. It should be noted that this will be agreed following contract award. The University does not have a standard Research Collaboration Agreement which can be shared. In terms of the coatings, these will be applied primarily, but not exclusively, to healthcare products such as surgical instruments and implants. The successful applicant (The Contractor) will work with The University under the terms of an agreed Research Collaboration Agreement. The Contractor must have an existing process in development which can produce antimicrobial coatings on surfaces by physical vapour deposition (PVD). The Contractor shall participate in a collaboration between The University and The Contractor to participate in the construction of apparatus to replicate the developed process and site this at The University. The Contractor shall be required to provide a list of all the parts, which form the apparatus. The University will own the apparatus. The University will supply some of the parts required to the Contractor. The parts which the University will supply include: - A 1600 litre per second turbomolecular pump - A dry pump (circa 1000 litres per min) - A 5kW pulsed DC power supply (three off) - A high frequency 6kW power supply for substrate bias (Bias Operation). It must be noted that UHI have not purchased these items, for which these items are currently out to tender.