Automatic Particulate Matter Analyser Contract for Ambient Air

1.1. The Authority will be looking at a contract for PM2.5 analysers that has multiple contractors on it to call off against so the best analyser could be placed for different site types based on what the Authority consider to be the best instrument for the site type. A ‘call-off’ means that if you are successful on the tender to make the call off list - there is no guarantee of how many instruments the Authority will purchase from you.<br/>The Authority envisage having up to 7 Contractors on the call off contract. The priority is to have analysers that meet our technical needs for different site types and to ensure that the targets are measured consistently across the network using the best type of analyser for each site type, against the reference method, and to provide the instrument with the lowest uncertainty for the measurement of annual mean targets. Practical considerations on running costs, space requirements and capital budgets will be taken into account in our selections. Hot spares are likely to be ordered to assist the CMCU(s) to help achieve high data capture in the event of any instrument faults.<br/><br/>1.1. Prior to the Invitation to Tender, a Prior Information Notice was issued on the 14th July 2022 to assess the market interest. To gather interest on new instruments (not just those already operating on the UK-AIR AURN network, bidders were asked to reply if they were “If you have an automatic instrument that has or will soon have MCERTS for UK particulate Matter for PM2.5 please get in touch with Defra Group Commercial around opportunities for collocating instruments against reference methods in the UK prior to the possible opportunity in Spring 2023. <br/><br/><br/>1.3. Those that responded were sent a Prior Information Questionnaire <br/>Those that were able to meet the requirements in the prior information questionnaire have been funded to co-locate evidence at an AURN UK air traffic site in Birmingham, where a reference instrument was located for 6 months January to June 2023, to enhance the Authority’s understanding of how new instruments work and can collect data at a challenging UK traffic site, to enhance knowledge of analysers available on the market at the time of the first PIN. The information collected will be shared back with each Supplier (not other Suppliers to avoid any commercial and intellectual property conflicts). The evidence collected will not be used by the Authority during the Invitation to Tender Stage, but the supplier may use it in their bid proposals.