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Official procurement procedure
Supply, Installation, Validation and Verification of Tandem Mass Spectrometer – Liquid Chromatography System
No classification published
Location not published
Published value
Not published
Submission deadline Not published
Lots published1
Procurement Executive Summary
AI & Search Synopsis
Generated from official OCDS record
Tenderline Synopsis: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST: "Supply, Installation, Validation and Verification of Tandem Mass Spectrometer – Liquid Chromatography System". Published status: complete. Published value: Value not published. 1 published lot. Submission deadline not published. See the official notice for participation instructions.
| Contracting Authority | CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST | Scope & Categories | Not published | Submission Window | complete No deadline published |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Submission Gateway | Direct notice route | Legal Basis & Regime | Standard procurement | Estimated Value (exc. VAT) | Not published |
Bidder Intelligence · Authority Profile: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
Market Analytics
Derived from OCDS awards & bid statistics
Published history for CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST. These figures describe retained records, not a forecast of bids or a measure of buyer bias.
Published-to-award variance
Not availableInsufficient comparable data
Competition Density
Not availableNo published reports
Supplier ConcentrationHigh Concentration
VYAIRE UK 236 LIMITEDTop vendor: 69.4% of attributable valuePayment Terms
Check noticePublished terms
Coverage: 700 active published awards; 0 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 Unpublished data stays unknown.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.
Historical Awarded Suppliers With This Authority:
| Supplier Name | Historic Awards | Attributable GBP Value |
|---|---|---|
| VYAIRE UK 236 LIMITED | 1 win | £2,014,193 |
| P2G Contract Support LLP | 1 win | £100,000 |
| SOFTCAT PLC | 1 win | £90,405 |
| Mills & Reeve | 1 win | £81,264 |
| STRYKER UK LIMITED | 1 win | £76,900 |
Procedure terms
Contracting AuthorityCAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST | 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 |
Published31 Mar 2026, 11:33 BST | Last source update31 Mar 2026, 11:33 BST | Recurring procurementNot published |
ClassificationNot published | ||
Delivery areaLocation not published | ||
OCIDocds-h6vhtk-065e31 | ||
What is being bought
Supply of a high sensitivity Tandem Mass Spectrometer – High Performance Liquid Chromatography system to Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) for analysis of hormones biological fluids
What changed
From the official release history
- Official notice release published
31 Mar 2026, 11:33 BST - Official notice release published
11 Mar 2026, 11:42 GMT - Status changed to complete
27 Feb 2026, 12:20 GMT - Official notice release published
27 Feb 2026, 12:20 GMT - Buyer information updated
27 Feb 2026, 12:20 GMT
Lots and requirements (1)
Published by the contracting authority
- Lot 1 · #1Individual lot title not publishedcompletePublished valueNot publishedThe source published no individual title or description for this lot.Contract periodNot publishedEligibilityNot publishedOptions / renewalNot published
Timeline
- Procedure published
31 Mar 2026, 11:33 BST - Award active
Not published · Not published - Contract active
Signed 23 Mar 2026, 00:00 GMT · £415,490
Commercial outcome and competition
Awards AB Sciex UK Limited Not published · Not published · active |
Contracts Contract £415,490 · signed 23 Mar 2026, 00:00 GMT · active Contract period: 1 May 2026, 00:00 BST — 30 Apr 2027, 23:59 BST |
Bid statisticsNo aggregate bid statistics published |
Buyer and organisations in this procedure
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
Contracting authority GB-NHS-RGTDocuments (1)
Official links; attachments are not copied
Related procedures (0)
No related procedures published
Planning and rationale
Planning budgetNot published |
No-engagement rationaleNot published |
Procedure rationaleThe CUH Blood Sciences Endocrine Laboratory 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 that were developed in-house.
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 will be capable of quantitation of a range of hormones or metabolites in human serum, urine and saliva. Some of the analytes are at pmol/L concentrations in human serum e.g. aldosterone/metanephrines, so a high sensitivity system is essential. The TMS – HPLC system must have the following critical elements:
TMS
- The TMS will 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 MS 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 MS 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 Endocrine Lab must be directly transferrable without the need for re-development.
HPLC
- The HPLC system must have 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 using online solid phase extraction.
The Trust believes that only Sciex 6500+ Tandem Mass Spectrometer, in conjunction with Shimadzu dual binary HPLC, can fulfil all of the essential criteria stated, and that only this equipment will allow rapid direct transfer of our current methods without the need to re-develop them. |