Official UK procurement notice
VEAT Notice for Sample Preparation Reagents
Authority: University Of Edinburgh (Education)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe University of Edinburgh intends to award a contract to New England Biolabs to provide products for the library preparation of samples ahead of sequencing.
CPV: Laboratory reagents
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1The University of Edinburgh intends to award a contract to New England Biolabs (NEB)…Awarded
The University of Edinburgh intends to award a contract to New England Biolabs (NEB) to provide products for the library preparation of samples ahead of sequencing on Oxoford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) equipment.
The NEB reagents are the only products validated, qualified, and optimized by ONT for the library preparation protocol. Substituting these critical reagents would require full revalidation, introducing risks to workflow stability and data comparability.
Although multiple suppliers offer general molecular biology reagents, no alternative vendor meets the validated compatibility requirements for the current ONT workflows in this project. NEB is therefore the only acceptable source for the products for library preparation for this project.
Based on validation data, workflow compatibility, and compliance requirements, NEB is the single source capable of supplying reagents required for the ONT sequencing processes defined in the project. These products are not available from other vendors; it is only possible to purchase these validated reagents directly from NEB UK.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record · publisher note attached- Procedure method
- Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Goods
- 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
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 25 Feb 2026, 16:29 GMT
- Last source update
- 7 Apr 2026, 12:21 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-031405- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-065c86Find a Tender
- Why no open competition
- The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive
- Published justification
The University of Edinburgh intends to award a contract without prior publication due to the absence of competition for technical reasons. There is only one supplier who can meet the requirements as published in this notice.
Publisher note: (SC Ref:828702)
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| New England Biolabs UK LtdSME | £335,000 † | — | Awarded |
| New England Biolabs UK LtdSME | £195,028 † | — | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 031405-2026-1 · New England Biolabs UK LtdSME
- Signed
- 19 Mar 2026
- Value
- £195,028
- Status
- active
Contract 017076-2026-1 · New England Biolabs UK LtdSME
- Signed
- 25 Feb 2026
- Value
- £335,000
- Status
- active
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1bids · 1 electronic · 1 from abroad | 1 | — | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Dispute resolution & review bodies
- Edinburgh Sherriff CourtReview body
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- New England BiolabsAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.