---
title: "The provision of metrology related services for assurance, evaluation and testing against UK national measurement standards."
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-0439f7"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-0439f7"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0439f7.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0439f7.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT ('HOME OFFICE')"
published: "2024-02-14"
---

# The provision of metrology related services for assurance, evaluation and testing against UK national measurement standards.

Buyer: THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT ('HOME OFFICE')  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-0439f7

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## Summary

The Home Office has awarded a contract for the provision of metrology-related services for assurance, evaluation, and testing against UK national measurement standards. The Home Office is the lead government department for immigration, passports, drugs policy, crime, fire, counter-terrorism, and police. The contracting authority is seeking rapid commissioning of impartial research and development in specialist areas to address evolving national security challenges. The procurement method used was Negotiated without publication of a contract notice, and the procurement stage was the Award.

This tender presents opportunities for businesses involved in research services within the UK. Companies specializing in advanced materials, quantum technologies, bio-metrology, sensor technologies, data science, electronic and electromagnetic materials, among others, are well-suited to compete. The award criteria are based on the lowest price, encouraging cost-effective solutions for delivering metrology services to the Home Office. The contract was signed on 14th February 2024 with the National Physical Laboratory as the awarded supplier.

## Notice

Metrology is the scientific study of measurement and accurate measurement underpins much of the UK's infrastructure. National security challenges continue to evolve into new areas that threaten and disrupt the fabric of society, economic well-being and way of life. Rapid commissioning of impartial research into this specialist area against the UK National Measurement standards is a capability sought by the Home Office.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

The Home Office is the lead government department for immigration and passports, drugs policy, crime, fire, counter-terrorism and police. The Homeland Security Group (HSG) and Science, Technology, Analysis, Research and Strategy (STARS) teams sit within the Home Department. Both play crucial roles in national security and law enforcement operations and pursuant to this mission they wish access to the specialist research capabilities available through the National Physical Laboratory (www.npl.co.uk). The Home Office is entering into an agreement with NPL whereby it shall directly commission projects where the substantive component is metrology , across technical areas including, but not limited to, advanced materials, quantum technologies, bio-metrology, sensor technologies, data science, electronic and electromagnetic materials, emissions, gas and particle metrology, mechanical measurement, mass spectrometry, nuclear and radiation measurement and ultrasound, specifically: i) Technology assurance and evaluation against the UK's national measurement standards, ii) Impartial and independent advice on testing and standards, especially where standards are emerging or no standards exist, iii) Development of methods for technical assessment of devices and technologies, especially where standards are emerging or no standards exist, and iv) Tests and evaluations to help the Home Office understand its own test facilities across the breadth of its portfolio. Through this agreement and constrained to the scope identified in this Section II.2.4, the Home Office shall award this agreement in accordance with Regulation 32 (2)(b)(ii)('competition absent for technical reasons'). The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is a Public Corporation owned by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). NPL is the UK's National Metrology Institute (NMI), developing and maintaining the national primary measurement standards, the highest point of reference in the UK as well as collaborating with other NMIs to maintain the international system of measurement. It is a public sector research establishment delivering the measurement capability that underpins the UK's prosperity and quality of life. It develops the enduring measurement infrastructure to metrology required to ensure the timely and successful deployment of new technologies. On this basis, the Home Office considers that competition is absent for technical reasons.

### Procurement Information

Please refer to Section II.2.4 "Description of the procurement" to this notice.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/004892-2024 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Negotiated without publication of a contract notice |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 14 Feb 2024 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 14 Feb 2024 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Not specified |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT ('HOME OFFICE') |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Post town | South West London |
| Postcode | SW1P 4DF |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLI London |
| ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West |
| ITL 3 | TLI35 Westminster and City of London |
| Local authority | Westminster |
| Electoral ward | St James's |
| Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | NATIONAL PHYSICAL LABORATORY |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 73 - Research and development services and related consultancy services

### Codes

- 73110000 - Research services

## Release History

- 14 Feb 2024 at 11:17 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/004892-2024

## Notice URLs

- https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-0439f7. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0439f7.json.