Supply of Microtoming Instrumentation for the Earth Institute, UCD

Tender description

The remit of this project is to provide essential equipment required to meet current Research and Testing activities in University College Dublin. The option for other unspecified public sector bodies to drawdown from this tender also remains available on up to three (3) occasions for up to eighteen (18) months after the award of contract. The supplier must provide equipment capable of Microtoming (sectioning by either cutting, slicing or grinding) a wide range of biological, Palaeontological and geological materials. These materials will have various stiffness, densities and rheologies and include (a) robust biological tissues such as cuticles and bones (typically fixed in preservative and wax-mounted), (b) foams, composite materials and wood, (c) rock and fossil (=mineralised/lithified) specimens. It is anticipated that two instruments (at least) will be required to cover this suite of different materials; in this case, specifications and costings for each should be provided separately. Serial sectioning of small diameter (1-2mm) objects is an important part of the uses envisaged for the equipment. It is therefore highly desirable that successive sections can be extremely closely spaced. It is desirable the sectioning process can be fully or partly automated; i.e. successive sections generated without ‘setting up’ the equipment again. It is highly desirable that the sectioning process can be integrated with an image capture system, which captures in high resolution the surface of the block being sectioned. This is especially important for sectioning using destructive processes e.g. via sawing or grinding. Significant weighting in the assessment is given to what training in the safe and efficient use of the instrumentation is included in the tender. It is imperative third party agents for manufacturers can demonstrate expertise in the use of the equipment supplied.