Automated Large-Scale Ultra-Low Temperature Biological Sample Archive

UKB is seeking a supplier that can provide a new Archive (taking responsibility for design, manufacture, installation, testing, commissioning and training), the provision of related IT systems, maintenance and other support services.

The Archive will be installed on the ground floor of a new UKB facility in the City of Manchester, UK (the 'Facility'). Facility practical completion is planned by early 2026. The Archive will need to satisfy Factory and Site Acceptance Tests, including Installation Qualification, Operational Qualification and Performance Qualification. The Archive may consist of one or more separate modules, and such modules may be delivered in phases. Following satisfaction of Operational Qualification, UKB will load 11 million samples from its existing facility and be responsible for the operation of the Archive.

The Archive must have sufficient capacity to accommodate 20 million samples (with expansion to 30 million samples if required by UKB during the contract) and design requirements will include spatial efficiency, fit with the Facility design, sample storage temperatures and environmental efficiency. The Archive must be electrically cooled to preserve samples at ultra-low temperature and ultra-dry humidity (minus 80 degrees C) with dual redundancy, with backup cooling provided by a supply of liquid nitrogen. The Archive must use 96-position SBS-format racks, be compatible with UKB's current and future labware and have resilient robotic automation for picking and returning samples and sufficient throughput to meet UKB's sample processing requirements (retrievals of up to 500,000+ samples combined with smaller requests, daily loading of new samples, return of retrieved samples after laboratory processing and consolidation (defragmentation) of empty spaces).

The IT system (all hardware, software and management components required to support the operation and management of the Archive) must be provided by the supplier. The system requirements include the ability to maintain an accurate inventory of labware (and therefore samples) stored at all times; functionality for operation and management of the Archive by UKB laboratory and facilities staff; be highly configurable by UKB (e.g. role-based access to data and functionality; logging; and alerts); and support integration with UKB's laboratory information and other systems programmatically through, for example, secure API based services.

The supplier will be required to provide ongoing support services including on-site engineering support personnel to respond to Archive errors, faults and failures; supply of spares to ensure the Archive remains operational and meets UKB's requirements, some of which must be stored on-site at UKB's premises; remote monitoring of the Archive by the supplier to support timely notification to UKB of errors or failures; maintenance and support of the IT system including preventative maintenance. Full details are on the mytenders website.