Official UK procurement notice
RBGKEW1500 - Seed viability X-ray cabinet
Authority: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Public body)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Millennium Seed Bank laboratories (RBG Kew) are seeking to update their X-Ray Machine to continue supporting the assessment of quality seed collections during the cleaning and processing stage to assess the final number of "good" seeds prior to banking, which allows to keep the collections to be kept at top quality.
CPV: X-ray devices
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Awarded
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Goods
- Notice status
- Awarded without competition
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Direct award (no call for competition)
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 28 Jan 2026, 16:08 GMT
- Last source update
- 28 Jan 2026, 16:08 GMT
- Authority reference
RBGKEW1500- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-007729- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06113cFind a Tender
- Why no open competition
- The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive
- Published justification
The STA is justified because early market engagement demonstrated that competition is absent for technical reasons, with no reasonable alternative or substitute available that can meet RBG Kew's combined scientific and IT compliance requirements.
The supplier is offering a highly competitive price for a state-of-the-art unit, along with maintenance support that will ensure core operations can continue and enable new research activities, such as efficient measurement of X-ray seed density. The equipment's specifications, specialised agricultural/seed-focused design, and accompanying software are not available from other suppliers.
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| SOUTHERN SCIENTIFIC LIMITED | £150,000 † | — | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 007729-2026-1 · SOUTHERN SCIENTIFIC LIMITED
- Signed
- 9 Dec 2025
- Value
- £150,000
- Status
- active
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1bids | — | — | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Dispute resolution & review bodies
- Head of Procurement & Contract Management, Royal Botanic Gardens, KewReview body
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- Southern Scientific LimitedAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.