Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses)

Tender description

The Authority requires portable spectroscopes to help perform identification of visible “bulk” chemicals which may be benign, hazardous and/or illegal. The chemicals may be located within legitimate cargo, postage/parcel consignments and personal effects but not concealed. In this context “bulk” refers to substances which are visible to the naked eye and not in trace form. The Authority’s officers are exposed to personal risk when consignments they are inspecting contain substances which can be hazardous to health. The rising risk posed by Fentanyl is just one of the threats to Authority officers as they protect the UK border. The Authority requires portable spectroscopes to help perform identification of visible “bulk” chemicals which may be benign, hazardous and/or illegal. The chemicals may be located within legitimate cargo, postage/parcel consignments and personal effects but not concealed. In this context “bulk” refers to substances which are visible to the naked eye and not in trace form. The Authority operates in a variety of environments and requires portable technology that can be transported to where it is required. Inspection of consignments will take place in varied locations including a purposed examination room, freight shed, or within the depths of a ship. The spectroscopes must have the ability to be used as “stand-off” and penetrate a variety of packaging (“Barriers”) to perform an analysis of the substance inside. In this context “stand-off” refers to the ability to interrogate suspect packages without the need for direct contact with the target substance. Real-time support or “reach-back” services to enable a second opinion of the spectra produced by the Goods if the initial result is inconclusive or not in the Goods’ library, library update services, training services and repair services shall be required. X-ray technology or any technology which is captured by the Ionising Radiation Regulations 1999 is specifically excluded from this procurement. The Ministry of Justice, the British Transport Police, the Police Service Northern Ireland, the National Crime Agency, the Police and Crime Commissioners of the UK Police Forces listed in the following link https://www.police.uk/forces and the Fire & Rescue organisations listed in the following link; http://www.cfoa.org.uk/frs?alpha shall also be Contracting Authorities of the Framework Agreement.