Drug detection apparatus

Tender description

Border Force (BF) secures the border and promotes national prosperity by facilitating the legitimate movement of individuals and goods, whilst preventing those that would cause harm from entering the UK. BF Officers must be able to detect the presence of drugs in a variety of environments. To support this, BF must be able to detect trace levels of narcotics on a variety of items including, but not limited to, personal effects such as suitcases and clothing, cargo and varying surfaces across encountered vehicles. This opportunity is anticipated to be open to Other Government Departments (OGD) which means there could be a variation in requirements including but not limited to: the drug library data and the targets for testing including the items/materials the equipment must analyse samples from. In order to support BF/OGD in the examination process as efficiently and effectively as possible there is a requirement for both desktop and portable Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) trace detection technology: • the technology must be able to detect and identify trace levels of various narcotics; • the technology must be able to analyse samples taken from a variety of hard and soft surfaces; • the technology must be compliant, if applicable, to the Ionising Radiation Regulations 2017 (IRR17) and expects any technology and vendors to be compliant when providing technologies using ionising radiation; • portable devices must be lightweight and easily transportable; • equipment must have ability for drugs library to be maintained/updated by either BF/OGD or the supplier remotely and/or on site; • suppliers will be required to provide detailed evidence of their equipment’s performance of detecting narcotics. In order to support BF/OGD in the examination process as efficiently and effectively as possible there is a requirement for both desktop and portable Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) trace detection technology: • the technology must be able to detect and identify trace levels of various narcotics; • the technology must be able to analyse samples taken from a variety of hard and soft surfaces; • the technology must be compliant, if applicable, to the Ionising Radiation Regulations 2017 (IRR17) and expects any technology and vendors to be compliant when providing technologies using ionising radiation; • portable devices must be lightweight and easily transportable; • equipment must have ability for drugs library to be maintained/updated by either BF/OGD or the supplier remotely and/or on site; • suppliers will be required to provide detailed evidence of their equipment’s performance of detecting narcotics.