Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2022-07-08
Buyer: Aarhus Universitet
Country: DK
Contract type: Supplies
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 38000000
Estimated value: 500000 EUR
Award criteria: Lowest price

Technical requirements: The Department of Biomedicines at Aarhus University wishes to purchase a flexible fluorescence light sheet microscope system that can be integrated into the imaging facility at Health. The aim is to support the research groups at the faculty, who need to visualize cleared tissue samples, ranging from whole-organ overview imaging to subcellular high-resolution imaging.
With the purchased system, we wish to get a flexible light sheet system for fluorescent imaging of cleared tissue samples. Since the system will be placed in an imaging core facility it has to cover from macroscopic images on an organ scale to detailed, subcellular structures. One example could be imaging of neural networks at low magnification followed by subcellular structures and spines at highest possible resolution. Some of the imaging will furthermore require that the tissue can be sectioned, where afterwards structures can be found again in a confocal system, using correlative imaging. As core facility we support many disciplines at different faculties at Aarhus University as well as other Universities. Thus the system should be upgradeable in the longer run with heating and CO2 for live imaging.
The above-mentioned requirements demand a light sheet system microscope system that have optics for organic and inorganic clearing solvents. It is necessary, that possibly toxic immersion media changes pose little to no risk for the scientists.
1.	The system should be able to image cleared samples immersed in both water and high refractive index clearing medium. The numerical aperture should be at least 1.0 for this imaging.
3.	To provide an optimal 3D sample image on an organ scale, the system should be able to image large samples from different sides and to rotate the samples.
4.	The system should be equipped with two high-end CMOS cameras for fast imaging. The cameras should be tested and delivered without any pixel errors.
5.	The system should support correlative microscopy with the other confocal Zeiss microscopes the imaging facility at Biomedicine Department, Health.
7.	The system should be equipped with illumination optics for 5, 10 and 20 x magnifications that can image samples with refractive indices of 1.38 and 1.53.
8.	The system must have an easy and stable software interface, as it will be placed in an imaging facility with many users.
There are several light sheet imaging systems on the market, but they are generally made either for imaging of very small samples or large tissues. We have been in contact with several vendors and tested some of the systems either as demo in our department or by visiting other imaging core facilities, but none of these systems have the needed specifications for our needs. Only the Zeiss light sheet 7 system has the flexibility to image with both high and low resolution with different optics, ability to rotate the sample,  a two-camera setup combined with the option of doing live imaging in a heating and CO2 controlled environment. The negotiated system is constructed on several patented principles allowing the needed imaging. This includes
In US, EP and JP, ZEISS owns an exclusive license from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) for patents and patent applications in the field of Light Sheet Microscopy. In US and JP, ZEISS is exclusively entitled to use the technology of steering a beam with an electronically-controlled scanner to generate a light sheet as claimed in US7554725 and in JP5738108. In EP and JP, ZEISS is exclusively entitled to use a setup for light sheet microscopy having a rotatable sample holder as claimed in EP1576404 and in JP5259916.
This patent describes the illumination directing being perpendicular to the viewing direction and how the light sheet is created along with a rotatable sample holder.
Following the notification, a standstill period of 10 calendar days will be held in accordance to paragraph 3 of Act No. 593 of 2 June 2016 on the Danish Act on the Complaints Board for public Procurement. This implies that the Contracting Authority cannot sign the Contract with the winning Tenderer before the standstill period has expired.
In case of complaints about tenders or decisions, e.g. award of contracts covered by Section II or III in the Danish Public Procurement Act must be submitted to the Complaints Board for Public Procurement (Klagenævnet for Udbud) within 45 calendar days from the day after the contractor published a notice in the Official Journal on the conclusion of a contract. At the latest concurrently with submission of an appeal to the Complaints Board for Public Procurement, the complainant must inform the Contracting Authority of the alleged infringement, and whether the appeal is to be referred to the board.”


Winner: Carl Zeiss A/S
Award value: 500000