---
title: "Supply, Delivery, Installation, Commissioning and Post-Warranty Maintenance of Automated Block Trimmer and Laser Slice Printers"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-04dec7"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-04dec7"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04dec7.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04dec7.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST"
published: "2025-02-13"
---

# Supply, Delivery, Installation, Commissioning and Post-Warranty Maintenance of Automated Block Trimmer and Laser Slice Printers

Buyer: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-04dec7

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## Summary

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, based in Cambridge (UKH12), has completed the award stage of their procurement process for the "Supply, Delivery, Installation, Commissioning and Post-Warranty Maintenance of Automated Block Trimmer and Laser Slice Printers" in the industry category of Laboratory, optical and precision equipment. The contract, valued at £640,000 and awarded to Axlab Ltd, was signed on 13th February 2025. This procurement seeks to enhance the pathology department’s workflow by automating block trimming and slide printing, interfacing seamlessly with existing systems and consumables. The project also includes the relocation of equipment to a new site at 1000 Discovery Drive starting 25th July 2025 over a three-week period.

This tender represents an excellent opportunity for suppliers in the laboratory and medical equipment sector to collaborate with a leading health institution. Businesses that provide automated lab equipment, especially with integration capabilities for existing laboratory systems, will find the requirements of this procurement align with their offerings. The need for equipment that supports high throughput and compatibility with systems like EPIC Beaker outlines a preference for innovative solutions that streamline operations, making it particularly advantageous for companies specialising in laboratory automation and diagnostics technology to engage with such tenders.

## Notice

Supply, Delivery, Installation, Commissioning and Post-Warranty Maintenance of Automated Block Trimmer and Laser Slice Printers

### Lot Information

Lot 1

The Histopathology team at CUH is part of the Pathology Directorate and forms part of Division B comprising a number of other services including Genomics and Cancer Services. The department currently processes approximately 80,000 cases per year generating approximately 240.000 wax blocks and 500,000 slides. CUH is currently in the process of tendering for the provision of a solution to complement the automation of existing workflow from microtomy to block check of blocks and stained slides. The solution must include on-demand printing of slides, and a fully automated walk-away system for block trimming of paraffin embedded blocks that can be sectioned either manually or automated using the AS-410M auto sectioner. The laboratory currently makes use of batch slide printing for manual microtomy, and manually trims paraffin embedded blocks to be sectioned through automated sectioning and slide mounting. The solution must allow the laboratory to implement a continuous workflow that eliminates batching requirements, and checking of block against slide at the quality check step. The slide printing component of the solution must be able to interface to EPIC Beaker. The devices must fulfill the following essential requirements: * Solution must be compatible with existing equipment, consumables and workflow for maintaining operational efficiency * Solution must be within current budget * Solution must be able to trim in blocks full face as a walk-away system * Solution and associated consumables must be compatible to automated sectioner AS-410 and manual microtomy * Evidence of implementation and validation of equipment must be provided * Solution must be able to automatically change blades as required * Solution must be able to automatically orientate block surface without human intervention * Solution must allow continuous loading of blocks * Solution must have integrated imaging system to capture image of blocks trimmed for reference purposes and quality check * Solution must have built in wax waste collection * Solution must have a notification system for status update * Solution must be able to trim paraffin blocks at a minimum rate of 1 to 2 minutes per block * Solution must have a capacity of being able to hold up to 192 blocks for continuous trimming * Solution must have functionality to be able to trim various tissue types. Please confirm tissue types that have been validated to be trimmed on equipment. * Slide printing must use non-contact UV laser marking technology * Slide printing component must be able to print at a rate of up to 5 seconds per slide * Slides used on the slide printers must be agnostic and validated to downstream histopathology equipment including but not limited to VIP6 Tissue processors, Automated microtomy AS-140s, immunohistochemistry platform including BOND-III, BOND PRIME, Ventana platforms, any microtomes and archiving systems. * Slide printing solution must have minimum of 1 to 2 slide hoppers, which can be removable and allow swapping between slide hoppers * There must be a i interface between the Supplier's slide printing and EPIC Beaker * Slide printing must have standalone functionality in case of LIMS connection failure to equipment The department is planning to relocate to its new base in 1000 Discovery Drive over a 3 week period from 25th July 2025. Tenderers should be aware that they may be required to install their solution in the current premises before relocating to the 1000 Discovery Drive site.

### Procurement Information

The Trust believes that only the AT-192M FFPE Tissue Block Automatic Facing Device, SurePrint S200 and SurePrint S10 slide printers from Axlab Ltd contains and complies with all of the essential requirements and functionalities described at II.2.4 above. Axlab is the sole provider of both type of equipment to provide a solution compatible to existing workflows. This includes an automated and true walkaway of block trimming and slide printing using non-contact UV laser printing technology, while complementing existing workflow and LIMS integration, and agnostic to existing consumables such as slides used. There are no known automated and walk-away block trimming solution that compares to the AT-192. The S10 and S200 slide printing solutions also provides an enhanced printing resolution, greater compatibility with LIMS reducing needs for software modifications. There are lower maintenance requirements, thus reduced downtime and training requirements for a high volume and high throughput laboratory.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/004976-2025 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Goods |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 13 Feb 2025 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 13 Feb 2025 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £640,000 |

## Status

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

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST |
| Locality | CAMBRIDGE |
| Post town | Cambridge |
| Postcode | CB2 0QQ |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLH East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLH4 Cambridgeshire and Peterborough |
| ITL 3 | TLH42 Cambridgeshire CC |
| Local authority | Cambridge |
| Electoral ward | Queen Edith's |
| Westminster constituency | South Cambridgeshire |
| Delivery location | TLH12 Cambridgeshire CC |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | AXLAB |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 38 - Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses)

### Codes

- 38000000 - Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses)

## Release History

- 13 Feb 2025 at 15:22 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/004976-2025

## Notice URLs

- http://www.cuh.nhs.uk

## 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-04dec7. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04dec7.json.