Official UK procurement notice
UKRI-7473 Phosphate glass laser rods and cooling units for Gemini Quantel Laser systems
Authority: UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) (Central government)
Supply of Phosphate glass laser rods with various dimensions ( 6,9,16&45mm) and 1800W cooling group units customised for Gemini Quantel Laser Systems.
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionSupply of Phosphate glass laser rods with various dimensions ( 6,9,16&45mm) and 1800W cooling group units customised for Gemini Quantel Laser Systems
Open work like this
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The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedCommercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| PHOTONIC SOLUTIONS LIMITEDSME24 Nov 2026 – 31 Mar 2027 | £127,648 | 10 Nov 2026standstill to 23 Nov 2026 | Standstill |
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Direct award
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Notice status
- Awarded without competition
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Direct award (no call for competition)
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 10 Nov 2026, 15:09 GMT
- Last source update
- 10 Nov 2026, 17:04 GMT
- Authority reference
UKRI-7473- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-106879- Latest notice
- Contract award notice (UK6)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07b8c4Find a Tender
- Why no open competition
- Single Suppliers Intellectual Property Exclusive Rights
- Published justification
Photonic Solutions is the exclusive distributor of Lumibird (Quantel) products within The United Kingdon and The Republic of Ireland. This statement applies to both laser systems and the associated replacement parts for these systems.
Anything other than an original supplier part would place the system at risk of failure or underperformance and place a significant risk on the service company not servicing the equipment because non-original parts were used.
- Risks
- Lower gain, affecting overall energy output
- Impurities, affecting lifetime and possibly absorption in the rod leading to lower damage threshold. This could in turn generate beam non-uniformities that could put the entire laser chain at risk - circa a few £M worth of optics, downtime and staffing, never mind having to rearrange probably 6 months to 1 year of experiments and the impact of that. Such things may not appear for months of operation.
- System damage – there is a possibility that internal reflections, impurities or manufacturing defects could cause damage to surrounding infrastructure in the amplifier, none of which would be covered if we used something not authorised by the manufacturer.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
10 Nov 2026 → 23 Nov 2026 · 2 dates- Notice published3 days ago10 Nov 2026, 17:04 GMT
- Today14 Nov 2026
- Standstill endsin 9 days23 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
Notice history
3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 10 Nov 2026- Transparency notice published10 Nov 2026, 15:09 GMTUK5
- Contract award notice published10 Nov 2026, 17:04 GMTUK6
- Contract signature expected24 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMTscheduled
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- Photonic Solutions LtdAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Transparency notice Transparency notice on Find a Tender