Notice Information
Notice Title
Purchase of Portable Human MRI System
Notice Description
Cardiff University is currently exploring the acquisition of a Portable Human MRI System. Our comprehensive market research indicates that there is only one supplier available for this specific technology. In light of this, we are issuing this Preliminary market engagement notice to invite expressions of interest from any suppliers who believe they can also meet our requirements. We encourage interested parties to submit their expressions of interest by emailing rogalaa@cardiff.ac.uk no later than Thursday, November 13, 2025. In the event that we do not receive any responses, the contract will be awarded directly in accordance with Regulation 41. Requirements: Portable human MRI system operating at very low field strength and suitable for imaging the brain in vivo. The system should use permanent magnets and must be modular in hardware (i.e. individual parts can be replaced with customised components, but it should come complete of gradients and an RF head coil). The code for running MRI sequences should be open source and freely available (i.e. users must be able to program any acquisition system, not just modify parameters of available ones). No external cooling should be required and it should be powered by a standard single-phase electricity supply. K-space and complex imaging data need to be exportable. - Target anatomy Head - Field strength (B0): between 40 and 80 mT. - Field homogeneity (over 20 cm DSV): Less than 1000 ppm. - Max gradient strength on each channel simultaneously: Greater than 25 mT/m. - Max gradient strength on each channel simultaneously - Number of Rx Channels 8 or more - Hardware Modular and customisable - Software (acquisition) Open source - Software (reconstruction) Open source
Planning Information
We encourage interested parties to submit their expressions of interest by emailing rogalaa@cardiff.ac.uk no later than Thursday, November 13, 2025.
Notice Details
Publication & Lifecycle
- Open Contracting ID
- ocds-h6vhtk-05d6ca
- Publication Source
- Find A Tender Service
- Latest Notice
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/069601-2025
- Current Stage
- Planning
- All Stages
- Planning
Procurement Classification
- Notice Type
- UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
- Procurement Type
- Standard
- Procurement Category
- Goods
- Procurement Method
- Not Specified
- Procurement Method Details
- Not specified
- Tender Suitability
- SME, VCSE
- Awardee Scale
- Not specified
Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)
- CPV Divisions
33 - Medical equipments, pharmaceuticals and personal care products
-
- CPV Codes
33100000 - Medical equipments
Notice Value(s)
- Tender Value
- £400,000 £100K-£500K
- Lots Value
- Not specified
- Awards Value
- Not specified
- Contracts Value
- Not specified
Notice Dates
- Publication Date
- 30 Oct 20252 weeks ago
- Submission Deadline
- Not specified
- Future Notice Date
- 13 Nov 2025Expired
- Award Date
- Not specified
- Contract Period
- 1 Dec 2025 - 30 Nov 2026 6-12 months
- Recurrence
- Not specified
Notice Status
- Tender Status
- Planning
- Lots Status
- Planning
- Awards Status
- Not Specified
- Contracts Status
- Not Specified
Buyer & Supplier
Contracting Authority (Buyer)
- Main Buyer
- CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
- Contact Name
- Not specified
- Contact Email
- rogalaa@cardiff.ac.uk
- Contact Phone
- Not specified
Buyer Location
- Locality
- CARDIFF
- Postcode
- CF24 4HQ
- Post Town
- Cardiff
- Country
- Wales
-
- Major Region (ITL 1)
- TLL Wales
- Basic Region (ITL 2)
- TLL5 South East Wales
- Small Region (ITL 3)
- TLL52 Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan
- Delivery Location
- Not specified
-
- Local Authority
- Cardiff
- Electoral Ward
- Cathays
- Westminster Constituency
- Cardiff South and Penarth
Further Information
Notice Documents
-
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/069601-2025
30th October 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)
View full OCDS Record for this contracting process
The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts.
{
"tag": [
"compiled"
],
"id": "ocds-h6vhtk-05d6ca-2025-10-30T09:33:16Z",
"date": "2025-10-30T09:33:16Z",
"ocid": "ocds-h6vhtk-05d6ca",
"initiationType": "tender",
"parties": [
{
"id": "GB-PPON-PHVT-4343-HWYR",
"name": "Cardiff University",
"identifier": {
"scheme": "GB-PPON",
"id": "PHVT-4343-HWYR"
},
"address": {
"streetAddress": "Procurement Services",
"locality": "Cardiff",
"postalCode": "CF24 4HQ",
"country": "GB",
"countryName": "United Kingdom",
"region": "UKL22"
},
"contactPoint": {
"email": "rogalaa@cardiff.ac.uk"
},
"roles": [
"buyer"
],
"details": {
"url": "http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/business/why-work-with-us/for-suppliers",
"classifications": [
{
"scheme": "UK_CA_TYPE",
"id": "publicAuthoritySubCentralGovernment",
"description": "Public authority - sub-central government"
},
{
"scheme": "UK_CA_DEVOLVED_REGULATIONS",
"id": "GB-WLS",
"description": "Welsh devolved regulations apply"
}
]
}
}
],
"buyer": {
"id": "GB-PPON-PHVT-4343-HWYR",
"name": "Cardiff University"
},
"planning": {
"milestones": [
{
"id": "engagement",
"type": "engagement",
"description": "We encourage interested parties to submit their expressions of interest by emailing rogalaa@cardiff.ac.uk no later than Thursday, November 13, 2025.",
"dueDate": "2025-11-13T23:59:59+00:00",
"status": "scheduled"
}
],
"documents": [
{
"id": "069601-2025",
"documentType": "marketEngagementNotice",
"noticeType": "UK2",
"description": "Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender",
"url": "https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/069601-2025",
"datePublished": "2025-10-30T09:33:16Z",
"format": "text/html"
}
]
},
"tender": {
"id": "CU.2082.AR",
"legalBasis": {
"id": "2023/54",
"scheme": "UKPGA",
"uri": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents"
},
"title": "Purchase of Portable Human MRI System",
"description": "Cardiff University is currently exploring the acquisition of a Portable Human MRI System. Our comprehensive market research indicates that there is only one supplier available for this specific technology. In light of this, we are issuing this Preliminary market engagement notice to invite expressions of interest from any suppliers who believe they can also meet our requirements. We encourage interested parties to submit their expressions of interest by emailing rogalaa@cardiff.ac.uk no later than Thursday, November 13, 2025. In the event that we do not receive any responses, the contract will be awarded directly in accordance with Regulation 41. Requirements: Portable human MRI system operating at very low field strength and suitable for imaging the brain in vivo. The system should use permanent magnets and must be modular in hardware (i.e. individual parts can be replaced with customised components, but it should come complete of gradients and an RF head coil). The code for running MRI sequences should be open source and freely available (i.e. users must be able to program any acquisition system, not just modify parameters of available ones). No external cooling should be required and it should be powered by a standard single-phase electricity supply. K-space and complex imaging data need to be exportable. - Target anatomy Head - Field strength (B0): between 40 and 80 mT. - Field homogeneity (over 20 cm DSV): Less than 1000 ppm. - Max gradient strength on each channel simultaneously: Greater than 25 mT/m. - Max gradient strength on each channel simultaneously - Number of Rx Channels 8 or more - Hardware Modular and customisable - Software (acquisition) Open source - Software (reconstruction) Open source",
"items": [
{
"id": "1",
"additionalClassifications": [
{
"scheme": "CPV",
"id": "33100000",
"description": "Medical equipments"
}
],
"deliveryAddresses": [
{
"region": "UK",
"country": "GB",
"countryName": "United Kingdom"
}
],
"relatedLot": "1"
}
],
"value": {
"amountGross": 400000,
"amount": 400000,
"currency": "GBP"
},
"mainProcurementCategory": "goods",
"aboveThreshold": true,
"lots": [
{
"id": "1",
"suitability": {
"sme": true,
"vcse": true
},
"contractPeriod": {
"startDate": "2025-12-01T00:00:00+00:00",
"endDate": "2026-11-30T23:59:59+00:00"
},
"status": "planning"
}
],
"status": "planning"
},
"language": "en"
}