Find a TenderAwarded without competitionContract award notice
Published 10 Nov 2026, 15:09 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

UKRI-7473 Phosphate glass laser rods and cooling units for Gemini Quantel Laser systems

Official notice

Authority: UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) (Central government)

Direct awardSME suitableVCSE suitable
Awarded value£127,648published award · exc. VAT
Award in standstill 10 Nov 2026no call for competition
Award (standstill) to PHOTONIC SOLUTIONS LIMITED
Notice summaryFrom the published notice

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 description

Supply 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

This notice no longer takes bids · live search, filters set

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1AwardedSMEVCSE
Delivery: South EastEligibility: SME eligibleVCSE eligible

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast
Awards 1some still in standstill
Awarded value £127,6481 award exc. VAT
Awarded toValueDateStatus
PHOTONIC SOLUTIONS LIMITEDSME24 Nov 2026 – 31 Mar 2027£127,64810 Nov 2026standstill to 23 Nov 2026Standstill

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
South East (UKJ14)
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07b8c4 Find 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.

Review and risk notes
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
  1. Notice published3 days ago
    10 Nov 2026, 17:04 GMT
  2. Today
    14 Nov 2026
  3. Standstill endsin 9 days
    23 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT

Notice history

3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 10 Nov 2026
  1. Transparency notice published
    10 Nov 2026, 15:09 GMT
    UK5
  2. Contract award notice published
    10 Nov 2026, 17:04 GMT
    UK6
  3. Contract signature expected
    24 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT
    scheduled

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

UK Research & Innovation (UKRI)

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PDQJ-7126-JDHG Polaris House, Swindon, Wiltshire, South West, SN2 1FLContact email

Bidders & participating suppliers

1 commercial party on the notice
  • Photonic Solutions LtdAwarded supplierGB-PPON: PYNC-9658-MBVV Unit 2.2 Quantum Court Heriot-Watt University Research Park, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH14 4APContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure

  • Contract award notice awardContract award noticeUK6Contract award notice on Find a Tender
  • Transparency notice awardTransparency noticeUK5Transparency notice on Find a Tender