Public procurement notice: Contract Award Notice
Published: 2022-02-25
Buyer: Aarhus Universitet
Country: DK
Contract type: Supplies
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 33000000 | 38000000
Estimated value: 4900000 DKK
Award criteria: Lowest price

Technical requirements: Procurement of a high-resolution, high-speed inverted confocal laser scanning microscope with an integral fluorescence lifetime measurement unit for flexible multi-user applications.
The subject of the service is the procurement of a state-of-the-art point confocal microscope for multi-scale imaging of a range of thick biological samples. The microscope will facilitate research that has previously not been possible in the Department of Biomedicine e.g., by providing drastically improved imaging speed and resolution, visualization and separation of an extended range of spectrally overlapping fluorophores imaged simultaneously, and access to the lifetime domain of fluorescence microscopy. It will be modular and thus fully upgradable to enable future applications (e.g., intravital microscopy).
• White light laser (WLL). This allows for free tuning of the excitation wavelength over the broad spectral range from 440 nm to 790 nm. This is crucial for us, as the platform will be required to rapidly and simultaneously image many fluorophores with often overlapping spectra.
• importantly, the freely tunable WLL goes hand-in-hand with freely tunable Acousto-Optical-Beam-Splitter (AOBS) and Acousto-Optical-Tunable-Filter (AOTF), making the system unique in its free tunability in both excitation and emission;
• the pulsed WLL, together with the special Power HyD S and X detectors and electronics, allow for acquisition of fluorescence lifetime data. This offers another way of separating/eliminating autofluorescence, which is a priority in mammary gland samples, via lifetime-gating;
• besides the spectral flexibility, high speed and quantum efficiency are requirements, as a core functionality is imaging living samples, with rapid physiological processes (e.g., ion channel fluxes) to be captured at high speeds and with minimal damage due to intense laser illumination;
• the Stellaris system will be primarily used for ex vivo imaging of living tissues but will facilitate transition for many users into intravital imaging. As such the possibility of future upgrades with additional funding is a must. Specifically, the ability to add multi-photon excitation support (DIVE module), STED super resolution support and/or label-free Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) support are requirements.
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: Triolab A/S
Award value: 4900000
Number of bids: 1