---
title: "260101 - Contract for Supply, Delivery, Installation & Commissioning and Maintenance of a High Throughput Live-Cell Imaging System"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-0685cf"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-0685cf"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0685cf.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0685cf.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST"
published: "2026-06-22"
---

# 260101 - Contract for Supply, Delivery, Installation & Commissioning and Maintenance of a High Throughput Live-Cell Imaging System

Buyer: QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-0685cf

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## Summary

Queen's University Belfast, a public authority under Northern Irish devolved regulations, has recently completed the procurement process for the supply, delivery, installation, commissioning, and maintenance of a High Throughput Live-Cell Imaging System for the Future Medicines Institute (FMI). The process culminated in the awarding of the contract on 22 June 2026, with Sartorius UK Ltd being selected as the supplier. This procurement, conducted through an open procedure, falls under the category of goods and is valued at £975,000. The contract period commences on 2 July 2026 and extends until 1 July 2028, with an optional extension up to 2036. The contract supports FMI's objective of enhancing its drug discovery capabilities by providing real-time live cell imaging under optimal growth conditions at the university's Belfast location (Region UKN06). Key deadlines include the standstill period ending on 1 July 2026 and the potential for additional purchases if future funding permits.

This tender represents a significant opportunity for businesses involved in the supply of advanced scientific imaging equipment to engage in a high-value contract with a leading academic and research institution. Businesses with expertise in manufacturing and maintaining high-resolution fluorescence and bright field imaging systems, particularly those capable of supporting high-throughput drug screening projects, are well-suited to this procurement. The contract provides an avenue for growth and collaboration, allowing businesses to contribute to cutting-edge research in cellular studies, drug discovery, and translational research. Suppliers with a focus on sustainability, ease of use, and servicing and maintenance capabilities are particularly aligned with the university's evaluation criteria, which prioritise both price and technical quality.

## Notice

The Future Medicines Institute (FMI) requires a high throughput live-cell imaging system to enable FMI scientists and collaborators to monitor live cell imaging in real time under optimal conditions of cell growth in a properly maintained carbon dioxide and humidity environment to enable the efficient capture of cellular changes as they happen in the incubator. The objective of procuring a live cell imaging system is to enhance FMI's capacity to monitor cells in real time, in an optimally controlled environment, to support and strengthen its drug discovery capabilities. The proposed system must: * Be capable of multiplate/vessel imaging, up to a capacity of 6 plates/vessels and including capacity to image 6 384 well plates, to meet the volume of analysis that the centre is undertaking and support high throughput drug screening projects. * Enable high resolution fluorescence and bright field images to be captured and recorded in real time over hours, days, or weeks. * Offer flexibility to enable users to observe and quantify complex biological changes over time in cells and 3d structures such as spheroids and organoid models. * Include a fully integrated image acquisition system to capture real-time insight into morphological and phenotypic changes and allow multiple users the opportunity to perform complex cellular assays. * Offer versatile assay configurations, supporting various experimental formats such as 2d cell systems and 3d spheroid, and organoid models. The procurement of this live cell imaging system directly supports FMI's broader goals of: * Accelerating drug discovery through rapid identification and characterisation of therapeutic candidates * Providing screening capabilities in high-throughput format * Facilitating translational research by bridging fundamental cellular studies with therapeutic applications. The procurement of a live cell imaging system will provide direct benefit to research scientists within FMI, and wider stakeholders such as partner organisations and the wider academic community in Queens University Belfast (QUB) by: * Significantly enhance its cellular screening capabilities. * Enhancing live cell imaging capabilities and data acquisition throughput in optimised cellular conditions. * Reducing time in setting up multiple vessels for multiple time point experiments. * Reducing plasticware consumables and expensive reagents currently used in setting up multiple time point experiments. If funding becomes available to address future expansion needs the University reserves the right to purchase additional Live-Cell Imaging Systems during the life of the contract. Subject to the availability of funding, the University may optionally purchase additional Live Cell Imaging Systems during the term of the contract. Any such additional purchases shall be non guaranteed, limited to the optional items and maximum quantities and/or values set out in the Pricing Schedule, and shall have been included in the estimated contract value for the purposes of this procurement.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

Renewal: option to extend maintenance/consumables, software updates or development, beyond this period for a further period of up to 10 years or the end of useful life of the equipment

### Planning Information

Queen’s has conducted Preliminary Market Engagement with a number of suppliers in
order to:
• develop the understanding of our requirements and the proposed approach to the
procurement;
• gain a better understanding of what the market can offer and if the market was capable
of responding to a tender in relation to this requirement;
• identify potential suppliers for the requirement;
• understand potential lead times;
• gain an understanding of the commercial profile for the requirement;
• communicate sustainability targets and minimum requirements to confirm the market
has the capability to deliver on these.
• identify opportunities to reduce the environmental impact of the requirement.
The information gathered from PME will be used to shape any forthcoming procurement
strategy to ensure that requirements can be subject to reasonable competitive tension.
Participation in preliminary market engagement is not a prerequisite for any future tender
exercise

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/058539-2026 |
| Notice type | UK6 - Contract Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Goods |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Open procedure |
| Tender suitability | SME |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Planning, Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 22 Jun 2026 |
| Submission deadline | 20 May 2026 |
| Future notice date | 19 Apr 2026 |
| Award date | 21 Jun 2026 |
| Contract period | 1 Jul 2026 - 1 Jul 2028 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £975,000 |
| Lots value | £975,000 |
| Awards value | £975,000 |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

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

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST |
| Locality | BELFAST |
| Post town | Northern Ireland |
| Postcode | BT7 1NN |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| ITL 1 | TLN Northern Ireland |
| ITL 2 | TLN0 Northern Ireland |
| ITL 3 | TLN06 Belfast |
| Local authority | Belfast |
| Electoral ward | Central |
| Westminster constituency | Belfast South and Mid Down |
| Delivery location | TLN06 Belfast |

## Supplier

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

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 33 - Medical equipments, pharmaceuticals and personal care products
- 38 - Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses)

### Codes

- 33110000 - Imaging equipment for medical, dental and veterinary use
- 38430000 - Detection and analysis apparatus
- 38510000 - Microscopes

## Release History

- 22 Jun 2026 at 12:57 - Award - UK6 - Contract Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/058539-2026
- 19 Apr 2026 at 14:06 - Tender - UK4 - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/035421-2026
- 18 Apr 2026 at 22:06 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/035418-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/058539-2026
  22nd June 2026 - Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/035421-2026
  19th April 2026 - Tender notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/035418-2026
  18th April 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- https://in-tendhost.co.uk/queensuniversitybelfast/aspx/Home
  Queen's Tendering Portal

## Notice URLs

- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents

## 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-0685cf. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0685cf.json.