Supply of Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometer (LC-MS) to OPSS

1. You are invited to tender for Project_4622 Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometer (LM-MS). The requirement is to procure a Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometer instrument for the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) via a single supplier.  In order to fully assess chemical regulatory requirements and emerging chemical risks, it is essential to introduce a new liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometer instrument (LC-MS/MS).

2. The requirement and subsequent contract shall be for a period of five (5) years with no option to extend the contract. The maximum value for the contract is £365,000.00 excluding VAT. For the purposes of Public Contract Regulation 2015 thresholds, this contract is £438,000.00 inclusive of VAT.

3. This Procurement is being carried out in accordance with The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 under the Open Procedure.

Chemical analysis is an important area for OPSS product testing. To fully assess chemical regulatory requirements and emerging chemical risks, it is essential to introduce a new liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometer instrument (LC-MS/MS). The LC-MS/MS will form part of the current integrated suite of in-house technologies which comprises of HPLC, FTIR/Raman, XRF, UV-Vis spectrophotometer, and GC-MS/MS.

LC-MS/MS is an analytical technique widely applied to identify and quantify chemical components in mixtures. There are many individual analytes and chemical groups that may be subject of future OPSS research and case studies e.g. nitrosamines, alkylphenols, azo and disperse dyes, bisphenols, benzophenones, chlorinated phenols, phthalates, perfluorinated compounds, and chemical flame retardants.

OPSS product remit and analyte selection may change and/or expand so it is important we provide a future-proof solution. Suppliers should ensure that proposed LC-MS/MS systems are appropriate for a broad spectrum of product safety applications, ideally offering wide flexibility on analyte selection and future modification where needed. It is also important to note that this operational requirement includes the determination of trace-level chemicals as we expect to both screen and target product impurities which may pose a risk to human health.