DAERA AFBI - CSB purchase of Liquid-Chromatographic Mass-Spectrometers (LC-MS/MS)

This notice is to inform the market that the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) is now preparing to commence a procurement process, (estimated to be published WC 4 Dec 2023) to establish a contract for the supply, delivery, installation, warranty, and training of staff in the use of Liquid Chromatograph – Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometers (LC-MS/MS) which must be delivered on or before 31st March 2024.

The key purpose of this notice is to make interested suppliers aware (so they can prepare in advance of the tender being published) that as part of the assessment process tenderers will be required to carry out the testing of samples in advance of the tender closing date. The analysis of the test samples must be performed in accordance with the instructions provided in the tender documents.

One of these instructions is regarding specific UHPLC columns which must be used as part of the process and which Tenderers will be required to supply their own as detailed below:

• Antiparasitics: AcquityTM UPLC® HSS T3 stainless steel analytical column (100 × 2.1 mm, particle size 1.8 µm) (Waters P/N186003539) equipped with an AcquityTM UPLC® column in-line filter unit, containing a 0.2 µm stainless steel replacement filter (Waters UK, P/N 205000343)

• Beta-agonists: Agilent Zorbax Eclipse Plus Phenyl-Hexyl RRHD 100 x 2.1mm, 1.8µm UHPLC column with Waters in-line filter unit (0.2 µm, 2.1 mm (Waters UK, Part No. 700002775)

Tenderers may use any equivalent column provided the length, diameter, and stationary phase remain the same (e.g., for antiparasitics, any polar C18 stationary phase column of 100 x 2.1 mm may be used).

Interested Suppliers should prepare in advance to ensure they have the appropriate columns in place prior to the tender being published as extension to the tender deadline may not be permitted.

Parties that are interested in participating are also advised to:

- register on and monitor the eTendersNI procurement portal https://etendersni.gov.uk/epps/home.do and

- monitor the Find a Tender Service https://www.gov.uk/find-tender