£729,000.00

Concepts

• laboratory equipment
• salisbury
• 729,000.00
• installation services
• varying sizes
• contained air solutions
• defence
• 14 class iii microbiological safety cabinets
• defence science & technology laboratory
• dstl

Location

Salisbury

Description

The Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL), part of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) intends to award a 5 year contract with a total estimated value of between £775k to £875k (including VAT) to Contained Air Solutions (CAS) Ltd for the provision of 14 Class III Microbiological Safety Cabinets of varying sizes (sizes listed separately) and their installation

Total Quantity or Scope

The Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL), part of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) intends to award a 5 year contract with a total estimated value of between £775k to £875k (including VAT) to Contained Air Solutions (CAS) Ltd for the provision of 14 Class III Microbiological Safety Cabinets of varying sizes (sizes listed separately) and their installation.

Award Detail

CPV Codes

• 51430000 - Installation services of laboratory equipment

Indicators

• Award on basis of price and quality.

Legal Justification

It is considered that the award of this contract without Prior Publication of a Contract Notice in the UK e-notification service (in accordance with the relevant legislation) is lawful in accordance with Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 because competition is absent for technical reasons. The required microbiological safety cabinets are for use in high containment laboratories for working with Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) Group 3 organisms. The cabinets are the primary containment method for the protection of laboratory staff, and wider environment, when working with dangerous pathogens. The cabinet control mechanisms are also used to control the routine fumigation of the cabinets and the safe venting after this process. Currently all Class III microbiology safety cabinets in the Authority’s high containment laboratories come from the same manufacturer, CAS Ltd. This is to reduce factors that are likely to cause human error, which includes a ‘standardisation’ of equipment to reduce operational risk, aligned with HSE stipulations. All laboratory staff are specifically trained in the safe use of CAS Ltd cabinets: standardisation is critical both within laboratories and across the building to minimise the potential for Authority staff to make safety critical mistakes through multiple manufacturer instructions and instrumentation to work with during operation. Use of alternative cabinet suppliers, where these may appear similar to CAS Ltd, would impose changes in controls and training requirements that would increase the likelihood of error resulting in accident or exposure to biological or chemical hazards to levels that would be unacceptable to the MoD. Given the required safety cabinets must be manufactured by CAS Ltd for the reasons set out above then they must also be installed by them as only this supplier has the necessary technical data, skills and experience to install their own equipment to the required safety and operational standards.